


Be all my sins remembered

by Ellana17



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, Minor Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Natasha Stark feels, Parallel Universes, Team Dynamics, crossover Agents of SHIELD / Avengers, takes place before The Winter Soldier, the team goes to the Triskelion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-03-28 20:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3868228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellana17/pseuds/Ellana17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Coulson's team finds a device emitting weird radiations, they have to team up with Tony Stark at the Triskelion in order to understand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Assembling the team

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this idea of a crossover Agents of SHIELD / Avengers for a while now and I’m finally able to post it. Just a bit of context, this story takes place before the thirteenth episode of season 1.

Steve put down his pen when the waitress came with his coffee. He arrived in D.C. a while ago and the city provided him with enough landscape and building to draw for a lifetime. Sometimes Steve would simply order a coffee and draw until he received a call from S.H.I.E.L.D saying he had to go on a mission.

Speaking of which, his phoned rang just as he took the first sip of his coffee. He checked the caller ID, and sighted. It was Fury.

“Director,” he said.

“Captain, I hope you’re not busy, we’ve got a situation here that requires your… expertise.”

Of course Steve knew that Fury was merely giving him an order. Busy or not, he had to go.

“What kind of situation, Sir?” Steve asked.

“I can’t talk about it over the phone. We need you at the Triskelion as soon as possible, chop-chop.”

The line went dead.

**oAo**

If given the choice, Agent Maria Hill would rather not have to deal with the situation at hands. But Director Fury had given his orders, and she had to follow them even if she disagreed. In Fury’s office, she could hear him yelling at Stark over the phone and she smirked. Maybe this assignment was not all that bad after all. It could even be… enlightening. She put the speaker on.

“Coulson.”

“Coulson, this is Hill speaking.”

“Agent Hill, what can I do for you?” he asked. “FitzSimmons, we’ll talk about this later,” she heard.

“How’re the kids doing?” she asked with a smirk.

“My team is doing just fine, thank you. But I’m sure you didn’t call just to enquire after our wellbeing.”

“Fury has decided to entrust the device to your team,” she informed him.

“You mean the device that we found in the first place.”

“Coulson, you have no idea what he had to do to have your people on the research team. You should consider yourself lucky.”

“Yes, yes. Who’s going to be on the team with them?”

“Our best experts from the tech department are already working on it. And…” She sighed.

“What is it?”

“Fury is on the phone with Stark at the moment,” Hill groaned.

“Stark? That’s insane!”

“I know it is. But Director Fury seems to think that Stark might somehow be of use to understand the working of the device.” She heard Coulson groan. “I don’t like it either,” she said. “Director Fury assigned Captain Rogers on the mission as well. Anyway, I’ll be the one to deal with them. In the meantime, Fury has another mission for you, Agent May and Ward. I’ll send you the details but the rest of your team need to get here immediately.”

“I’ll send over FitzSimmons and Skye tomorrow.”

“Skye?” Hill exclaimed. “But she doesn’t have clearance!”

“You’ll give her clearance. She’s a valuable asset, I know they’ll need her to make the device work.”

“Coulson!”

“Goodbye, Agent Hill.”

“Coulson!”

**oAo**

Coulson put down his phone and went to the lab where Fitz and Simmons were working.

“Agent Coulson,” Simmons said when he entered the lab.

Fitz didn’t even bother looking at him, he was too engrossed in the laser gun laying on the table.

“I have some good news for you,” he started. “Director Fury’s just given you access to the device we found.”

“Really?” exclaimed Fitz, finally tearing his gaze from the gun.

Coulson nodded.

“That’s great, Sir. When are they going to send it over?”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you. A team has already been put together, and you two and Skye are going to work with them.”

Fitz frowned but Simmons’ smile brightened. “Isn’t it great, Fitz? We’re going to the Triskelion, aren’t we, Sir?”

“Yes, May’s taking the Bus to D.C. to drop you off.”

The two scientists seemed really excited at the prospect of joining a real tech team, but Coulson wasn’t as keen as them. He couldn’t help but wonder whether or not they would be safe in D.C.

“There’s something else you should know before you go,” he added. “Director Fury insisted that a consultant should be part of the team and…”

“Is it Doctor Banner, Sir?” Fitz asked.

“That would make sense. Remember the device was emitting weird radiations,” Simmons added.

“I only wish it would be Doctor Banner, but no.” Their excitement seemed to die down a little. Coulson sighed. “It’s Tony Stark,” he said at last.

“For real?” Fitz exclaimed.

“I can’t believe it!” Simmons squealed.

“We’ll show him our new reactor!”

“We need to find a way to carry it first.”

“And our new laser too!”

“Oh, and the Nigh-Night Gun!”

Coulson tried to give them some more details but they both seemed to have forgotten he was even in the lab. He turned around and went to Skye’s quarters.

Her reaction was more or less the same. “My God! Tony Stark? Man, I love this job!”

“Skye, listen. I won’t be coming with you on this one, so you must promise me to be careful, aright?”

“Of course. You don’t think we’re in any kind of danger, do you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why S.H.I.E.L.D didn’t give us access to the device in the first place. I mean, why not? We’re the one who found it. And Fury is sending Stark to work on it. And Captain America is part of the mission as well.”

“Wow, wait a second. What do you mean ‘Captain America’?”

“Fury’s assigned him to the mission.” To make sure that Stark behaves, he refrained to add.

Skye seemed a bit dazed. “Captain America and Iron Man? When to we head out?”

“In an hour. Pack your things,” he said with more force than intended. But Skye didn’t seem to notice, she just nodded slowly. She had the most ridiculous smile on her face.

**oAo**

“But why Cap? He doesn’t know a thing about radiations!” Tony exclaimed over the phone.

“Stark!” Fury growled. “I need someone I can trust to handle this situation.”

“And you can’t trust me? I’m wounded. No, really, I am wounded.”

“Stark!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do,” he gave in.

“Thank you.” Fury didn’t seem thankful at all.

And then he hung up. Tony was already calling Bruce. “Bruce!” he whined as soon as his friend picked up.

“Tony? What is it? What have you done this time?”

“I haven’t done anything! Why do you always assume the worse?”

“Because I know you. What’s the matter?”

“Fury’s sending me to the Triskelion to work on some kind of powering device. And he asked Cap to babysit me.”

“I’m sure Steve will be too busy on his own to bother you, Tony.” Bruce sighed. “What kind of device?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet. Fury didn’t tell me, I’ll have to see for myself.” He sighed. “You wouldn’t be interested, by any chance?” he added as an afterthought.

“I can’t well go to a S.H.I.E.L.D facility, Tony. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”

“Traitor,” Tony mumbled.

“Don’t worry too much about Steve, alright? And try not to blow anything up.”

“Alright, Banner.”

“Keep me posted.”

And he hung up. Tony resisted the urge to smash his phone with the hammer laying in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided a while ago that Fury would probably try not to put all his eggs in one basket, so to speak. He would probably compartmentalize and create two separate teams when he found out that something weird was going on inside of SHIELD. In order to protect SHIELD he didn’t tell the Avengers that Coulson was alive, thus creating two independent teams. As you can see, this is a subject of many sleepless nights for me. I clearly take all this way too seriously. Anyway, Joss Whedon recently said that Coulson was as well as dead in the movies, so let’s just roll with it for now.


	2. Scientists at work: clear the lab before testing any unknown device for the first time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team meets Tony Stark.

When Fitz and Simmons entered the lab, they could not help the expression of sheer wonder on their face. Skye made a low whistle. “Impressive.”

The technicians already at work gave them an inquisitive look and one of them – a blond woman in a lab coat – came to greet them. “Hello Agent Fitz, Agent Simmons, Ms. Skye.”

“Hi,” Simmons said with a bright smile.

“So where is it?” Fitz asked, barely containing his enthusiasm.

The woman pointed to the table where the device was being tested. “We are trying to determine what kind of power source it uses,” she explained.

The three of them looked at it in wonder. Simmons grabbed the result report and began to read it. “Fitz, look at that! It seems to be generating power.”

“We are looking into it right now,” said the woman. “Take a coat, a pair of glasses and put gloves on before touching anything, understood?”

They nodded and took the coats but before they could even reach the table, the doors of the lab opened and a man stepped in. “Well, this won’t do at all. There’re too many people in here. Out. Everybody, out.”

Tony Stark had just entered the lab, a mug of coffee in one hand, a cell phone in the other.

“Mr. Stark,” said the blond woman. “I know that Director Fury has sent you but you…”

“You’re right, Fury’s sent me here – God only knows why – and I already can say that’s fortunate for all of us, Agent… Cadman,” he said, reading her name tag. “You see, this unknown device is emitting power, why is it emitting power?”

“Well, we turned it on…”

The technicians cleared the lab in a few seconds, leaving Agent Cadman alone to face Stark.

“Yeah, yeah, you turned it on alright. Really smart of you. Do you have any idea what this might do? No, of course you don't. It might blow up D.C for all we know. Well, I don’t really care but I'm supposed to protect people, you see? And Cap would have my head if I let anything happen to the citizens of this fine city.”

“But…”

Skye snorted and Stark fixed his furious gaze on her. She gulped.

"Why are you still here?" Stark wondered.

The three of them answered at the same time.

"We've been appointed by Director Fury," Simmons explained.

"We're the ones who found this thing," Fitz pointed out.

"Can you really dismiss the entire lab team?" Skye asked. "That's so cool!"

Fitz and Simmons gave her a look but Skye simply shrugged. "What? Come on, tell me that wasn't the coolest thing you've ever seen." Fitz rolled his eyes at her and Simmons shook her head with a smile. "Oh, come on!"

Agent Cadman seemed to have given up and left the lab without another word.

"You said you found this thing?" Stark asked.

They nodded but Stark's attention was already elsewhere. He checked the computer. "This won’t do at all,” he mumbled and unlocked his phone. “JARVIS, I need an upgrade on all the computers, and pull out the result report.”

“Of course, Sir.” The kids gasped at him and Tony smirked.

“It would seem that the team had merely had time for basic tests, Sir.”

“It talks,” Simmons finally exclaimed.

“It’s British,” Fitz added.

“Did you make it yourself?” Skye asked.

“Yes, yes and yes,” Stark answered without looking away from the report. He gulped down his coffee and turned to them. “Let’s get to work.”

**oAo**

Agent Hill burst into Fury's office, looking livid. "Do you know what he did?" she asked without preamble.

“Agent Hill," Fury greeted. "Please, take a seat.”

Hill glared at him. "He dismissed the lab team! It's his first day here at the base and he already thinks he can do as he pleases. I told you! I told you this was a bad idea!"

Fury fixed his gaze on her. "We need to be careful with this device. Do you know why I asked Coulson to send his team here instead of allowing them to study this damn thing on their own?"

Hill shook her head.

"Because someone high-up asked the device to be studied here. I don't know who, I don't know why. I just know that we need to be careful with this thing. You don't want it to fall into the wrong hands, do you?" Hill shook her head again. "Then you'll put up with Stark's crap until he leaves. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir." Hill turned around and went for the door. She stopped with her hand on the knob. "You're playing a dangerous game, Sir."

"Let's just hope it's worth it."

**oAo**

When Fury had first called him, Tony had refused the mission; he did not have to take orders from Fury after all. But now, seeing the lab (even if it was nothing compared to his labs in the tower) and the mysterious device, Tony had to admit that he was curious. He also had to admit that these kids were good. FitzSimmons were real geniuses, even if they were clearly taking their jobs way too seriously. As to the other girl – Skye – Tony liked her, she seemed to have nerve.

Suddenly, the doors of the lab opened, making them all slightly jump.

“Cap! Here already?” Tony exclaimed. Fitz, Simmons and Skye gaped as Captain America himself entered the lab.

“Where’s the rest of the lab team?” he asked.

“Oh, I sent them on their way,” Tony answered while eating some more blueberries.

“You what?” Tony was sure he heard a frightened squeal coming out of Fitz’s mouth but he did not blame the kid. Captain America could be downright scary when he wanted to be.

“They were buffoons anyway; they didn’t know what they were doing.”

“They were appointed by S.H.I.E.L.D; you can’t simply send them away!”

“Watch me.”

“Stark…” Cap said with the menacing tone that Tony knew well enough. It was time to change the subject.

“Anyway, meet FitzSimmons and Skye.” Steve seemed confused for a second.

“Simmons,” Fitz said, pointing at his coworker.

“Fitz,” she supplied.

“Skye,” Skye said, waving at Steve.

Steve nodded but his gaze became suspicious. "Director Fury appointed you, didn't he?"

Fitz nodded eagerly. "We found the device."

"I've never seen you around here before," he said.

"Well…" Fitz began to squirm. "We're not stationed here per se."

"Hey," Skye exclaimed. "We've been appointed by Fury; I thought that would mean we don't have to put up with all the questioning. Look, I even have clearance this time!" She showed them her badge with pride.

Steve looked like he did not know how to react to the girl. Tony snorted.

Steve turned to Tony once more. “I'm heading for the mess, I was wondering if you'd want to join me," he said.

“Why, is it night already?”

“Yes, Tony, it is.”

“Crap. Well, that was fun, kids. We’ll resume this tomorrow,” he said before following Steve outside the lab. “I knew Fury had sent you to babysit.”

The three of them heard Captain America sigh and the door closed. Fitz, Simmons and Skye looked at each other.

“Wow,” Fitz said.

“Well, that was awkward,” Skye added. “It’s like watching Mom and Dad fight or something – not that I’d know how this looks like but…”

“Skye, they’re members of the Avengers,” Simmons reminded her.

“And…?” She smirked.

Simmons ignored the jab. “We should go and eat something,” she suggested. “And we’ll need rest for tomorrow.”

“Can you believe that we worked with Tony Stark himself?” Fitz asked. “I can’t believe it!”

“Yeah, I think that was pretty clear by all your ‘of course, Mr. Stark’, ‘that was quite clever, Mr. Stark’,” Skye mimicked with a terrible British accent. “Next thing we know you’ll ask him to sign your boobs or something”.

“I don’t have boobs,” Fitz underlined.

Skye rolled her eyes at him. “You know what I mean,” she said as they headed for the mess hall.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for leaving kudos/bookmarks and comments on the first chapter!


	3. Tony ends up blowing some things up anyway

All of their quarters were in the same part of the S.H.I.E.L.D building, which did not help Skye feel safe. After all, it probably meant that Coulson had wanted them to look after each other here. She wondered what reason he could have to worry. Skye knocked on Simmons’ door, and the two of them went to fetch Fitz before heading for the mess hall.

“How long do you think we’ll be here?” Skye asked when they sat at an empty table.

“I don’t know, it depends on how long we take to make the device work, I suppose,” Fitz supplied.

“Based on our findings so far, I’d say a week, maybe more. Why?” Simmons added.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Skye said in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Why would Coulson send us here? Why Fury would ask specifically for us in the first place when he has dozens of high profiled scientists already working on the project?”

“Well, we did find the device,” Fitz underlined.

“Yeah, and we’re more than qualified to study it,” Simmons added.

“I don’t knows, guys. And how do you explain Stark and Captain freaking America? I mean, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty big.”

Simmons nodded. She had a troubled look on her face. "I have to admit that I don't like lying to Captain America's face."

"Exactly," Skye exclaimed. "That's what I'm saying, I don't understand why Fury would send us here when we could have taken the device back to the Bus."

"On the other hand, we really needed to use the lab they have here," Simmons underlined. "You have to admit that they have more tech than we do."

"And Mr. Stark has provided some useful insights," Fitz added.

Skye rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not complaining, guys, I'm really not. We get to work with the Avengers after all, but I'm just saying that we should be careful. There’s something fishy about this whole thing, trust me."

“And I totally agree with the kid,” said someone behind them.

The three of them jumped on their seats. When they looked up, Tony Stark and Captain America were standing right in front of them.

“I don’t understand why Fury would call all of us here when he already had a – clearly less qualified, but altogether easier to manage – team working in the lab.” He sat down across from them and poured himself a rather large cup of coffee.

Stark drank it all in three gulps and quickly poured himself another one. In that moment, Skye could have sworn she saw Captain America roll his eyes. Then he sat down next to Stark.

“What do you think about this situation, Captain?” Simmons asked.

“Please, call me Steve,” he said with a smile. “As for our situation, I’m not sure why we’ve all been gathered here, but I trust Fury knows what he’s doing.”

“Of course you’d think that,” Stark mumbled as he drank some more.

Skye wondered how much coffee could the guy drink.

Steve ignored Stark’s blow and turned his attention to Simmons, Fitz and Skye. They could not help but squirm a little. “That being said, you should be careful with the results of your findings. Don’t just trust anybody; we don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.”

They nodded with much fervor.

“Glad to know that you also use your head sometimes,” Stark said. Then he put down his empty cup rather dramatically.

**oAo**

When they entered the lab, FitzSimmons and Skye were more than ready to spend all day working. But the study of the device was impossibly slow and the only perk was Stark presenting them his AI.

“You can ask him anything when you’re in the lab,” Stark informed. “Well, go on.”

Simmons was the first to ask JARVIS to run a simulation of activation. Unfortunately, they had not enough data to complete the simulation.

After several hours of work, Skye insisted they all go to the mess hall for a well-deserved lunch. While they ate, Stark told them about the creation of JARVIS many years ago which prompted Skye to ask as many questions about the AI as possible.

"You're the one that’s good with computers on this team, right?" Stark guessed.

Skye nodded. "Yeup, I even hacked a few federal databases back in the day."

"Impressive," Stark said with a smirk. "Ever hacked a S.H.I.E.L.D database?" he challenged.

Simmons started to squirm on her seat while Skye grinned. "Actually yes, and Simmons had to use the Night Night gun to knock out an agent when he started asking too many questions," she explained, smiling at Simmons' obvious discomfort.

"Skye!" the other agent exclaimed.

"Relax, Simmons," she said and took some fries from her friend's plate. "It's not like he's going to tell on us, he hacked S.H.I.E.L.D before. You hacked S.H.I.E.L.D before, right?"

"I did, back when I first started to work with the team."

Skye gave Simmons a 'told you' look and Simmons just shook her head.

"That was not a pleasing experience," Simmons mumbled.

Then Fitz told him about their latest inventions like the Night-Night Gun. Stark seemed genuinely impressed by their numerous accomplishments and the conversation soon turned into a contest of the most impressive tech related story. Skye thought – not for the first time – that she was really glad to be part of this team.

**oAo**

“That’s weird,” Skye said without looking away from the screen.

“What is it?” Simmons asked, looking over her shoulder.

“I’m reading some sort of energy transfer from the device.”

“Transfer? What kind of transfer?” Fitz asked. He walked to her and took the tablet. “That’s weird,” he frowned.

“That’s what I said.”

“What’s going on over here?” Stark finally asked.

“We’ve found a weird energy transfer,” Simmons explained.

“Actually, _I_ ’ve found a weird energy transfer,” Skye cut in. “It’s like an energy peak… There! It’s happening again.”

Their eyes were all set on the screen. They were surprise to see the change in the charts.

“JARVIS, analyze the results.”

“It seems that the device is emitting inconstant peaks of energy, Sir.”

“But where does it come from?” Fitz asked.

“I don’t know, Fitz,” Skye answered. “It looks like it just appeared from nowhere.”

“It’s not right,” Simmons said as she took the tablet from Fitz. “Where does it come from?”

“JARVIS, run some simulation, okay? Fluctuations, transfers of matter,” Stark said. He looked at the charts on the screen. “And add the data on the portals to other dimensions.”

“Portals?” Skye exclaimed. She scoffed. “I thought it was just a theory.”

“Well, it doesn’t have any real application in physics,” Simmons underlined.

“If you had seen what I have seen, you wouldn’t dismiss the idea,” Stark stated. He saw them exchange knowing looks and he rolled his eyes at them. “I’m just saying that’s a possibility.”

 _Right, the guy has worked with a Northern god… alien – whatever_ , thought Skye. He probably knew what he was talking about.

“Okay, let’s admit for a second that parallel universes are real. Where does the energy come from?” she finally asked.

“Another universe,” Stark declared without even batting an eyelash.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

“But how could it work?” Simmons exclaimed. She seemed to be struggling to keep calm. “How could anyone create a bridge between two universes? That’s insane!”

“Where do you think it comes from, then?” Stark asked.

It obviously was a rhetorical question and Simmons turned to Fitz for support. “I don’t know, Simmons. We saw craziest things happen.”

“All right,” she said. “Let’s admit it really is a bridge. Then how does it work? And why would someone create it in the first place?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

Of course, Stark’s definition of finding something out was a bit different from the team’s one.

“JARVIS, I need you to find everything you can on this device, I’m sure Fury’s hiding something from us.”

“The file seems to be protected by a password, Sir.”

“Well, crack it,” Stark said matter-of-factly.

“You do have clearance for that, don’t you?” Simmons asked.

“Who cares?” Skye replied, hardly containing her glee. “This is awesome."

“I have found the report Agent Ward wrote after his team found the device,” informed JARVIS.

“We could have told you that,” Fitz noted.

“But did you know that the device is not complete?” Stark stated.

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me see this,” Skye exclaimed as she took the tablet from Stark. “Guys, he’s right. How come we didn’t see it before?” Fitz and Simmons came closer and took a look at the blueprints. “But how could it work if it’s only one part of the whole thing?” Skye asked.

Stark was practically tearing a hole in the tablet with his eyes. “JARVIS, we need a 3D modeling of the device.”

A hologram appeared at the center of the lab. The three younger members of the team would have been amazed by this piece of tech if they had not been so shocked by this latest development.

“Why nobody told us about this?” Fitz exclaimed.

“Fury likes his secrets,” Stark deadpanned.

“But why would he let us work on it if he knows it’s not complete?” Fitz added.

“Maybe he doesn’t want it to be in the wrong hands?” Simmons supplied.

“Guys, it looks like Fury has no idea of what it’s supposed to do,” Skye noted.

“That’s why he wanted us to work on it,” Fitz realized.

“We could find the second part of the device,” Simmons suggested.

“Something tells me that Fury knows exactly where it is,” Stark said.

**oAo**

“We should tell Captain Rogers about this,” Fitz suggested.

Skye simply shrugged as they quickly walked down the corridor to Fury’s office. Stark had taken off without a word and they had followed him without hesitation. FitzSimmons were not too keen on the idea of antagonizing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Director whereas Skye was positively beaming. She had not thought that Iron Man would be so badass.

They all entered Fury’s office without even knocking. “Time to spill it out, Fury,” Stark said.

FitzSimmons and Skye froze when they realized that two men were standing in the office. Captain America and Director Fury seemed to be in the middle of some animated argument. They both aimed their death glares at Stark.

“Stark, what is it this time?” Fury growled.

“When were you going to tell us that the device is not complete, Nick?” Stark accused.

Fury looked at them and none of them could tell what he was thinking. As the silence became more and more tense, Fitz grew more nervous, he crossed his arms over his chest and took a peek at Simmons. She looked calm, waiting for Fury to answer their questions.

“I wasn’t sure we could locate it on time,” Fury said with a glare. “Now that we have its location, I fully intend to send a team to retrieve it.”

“And when were you going to tell me that?” Steve asked. The guy was clearly pissed off, and Simmons was surprised to hear him address Director Fury in such a way.

“When the time was right!” Director Fury answered.

“Wait a second,” Stark cut in. “What are you two talking about? And what are _you_ doing here, Cap?”

“Director Fury wanted to send me on a mission with Widow without telling me what is was all about. Do I have to remind you that I already have a mission going on right now?”

“And do I have to remind you who gives the orders here, Captain? Babysitting Stark is not on top of my priorities list for you right now.”

“I knew it was babysitting,” Stark mumbled.

The three younger agents exchanged disbelieving – if not slightly frightened – looks. Were Captain America and Iron Man really having a cat fight with the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D?

“Agent Romanoff's just finished her latest mission…" Fury said.

“The one in Europe, with Hawkeye,” Stark supplied. Steve nodded.

“That’s classified information, Stark!” Fury barked. Stark lifted up his hands in mock surrender. “She will be ready to go in a few days," Fury went on. "The device has a link to the Russian mob, and Agent Romanoff has some unique qualifications in this area.” Rogers glared but did not say a word. “Now, get out of my office. All of you!”

Fitz and Simmons were the first to exist the office. Skye was following them with a smug look on her face. They realized that Cap and Stark had started to argue as soon as the door of the office closed behind them.

“You can’t just question Fury’s authority in front of other agents!”

“He’s constantly lying to our face, I’m sick of it! And you were the one to question his orders in the first place!”

“Because he wanted to send me away to do God only knows what!”

“If you think I’ll screw up if you’re not watching me, well, I won’t, alright? I don’t need a sitter!”

“That’s not what I was going to say, Tony!”

“I think they have some communication issues,” Simmons whispered.

“Figures,” Skye sighed.


	4. Avengers 101: whatever you do, don't piss off the Widow

Hill was fuming. She walked right into Fury’s office without bothering to knock. “What is the meaning of this?” she asked.

Fury looked up from the file he was reading. “Agent Hill, what is it this time?”

“You’re sending Agent Romanoff on the mission as well?”

“She’s the most qualified agent for this. We need to find this device. The sooner, the better."

“And I agree with you. But sending the Avengers to retrieve it–!”

“Romanoff is one of the best agents we have, she’s well trained and–"

“She’s a valuable asset but Stark isn’t! They can’t be contained.”

“That’s why we’re not trying to,” Fury calmly said.

“What do you mean?”

“They work better on their own.”

“I don’t trust them.” She crossed her arms.

“I don’t ask you to.”

**oAo**

Tony could not sleep. He lied in his bed at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters wondering once more why he had accepted this assignment. It seemed odd to be needed for his tech expertise and not for his suit for once, he mused.

He sat up in his bed and could not help the groan that escaped him. S.H.I.E.L.D quarters were clearly not designed to be comfortable. He turned on the light in the room. His anxiety was stronger at night, he needed to go to the lab to set his mind on something, to try and forget about the giant Chitauri whale that had swallowed him, and the space ship he had seen when he had literally flown to his death. However, he was not at Stark Tower, and S.H.I.E.L.D labs were not as advances as his own. Plus, he could not work on his suit here; he did not trust them enough to not be suspicious of their intensions. He put on some pants and a shirt and made his way to the lab anyway.

**oAo**

Skye was wandering the facility. It was almost empty at this hour of the night, save from the security night shift. It was weird how easily she had got used to sleeping in the Bus. Now, in this new environment– she was getting restless. She thought about going to Simmons’ quarters but quickly dismissed the idea. She did not want to disturb her friend. She finally settled for the lab. This energy thing was intriguing. And to be honest, she felt a bit nervous about it too.

When she entered the lab, she realized she was not the only one to be restless.

“Having trouble sleeping, huh?” she said.

Stark looked up from the computer screen. “Isn’t it past your bed time, kid?” he asked.

She smiled and sat down on a chair next him. “S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters – I want to explore!” she said with false cheer.

“I’m not sure Fury would be too happy to know that you’re wandering his headquarters at night.”

“Hey, I have clearance.” She shoved her badge at him.

“Good for you.” He turned back to the computer.

“Anyway, you didn’t answer my question.”

“What question?”

“What’s your excuse for being here in the middle of the night?”

“I’m reading some articles about bridges between universes and transfer of energy.”

“How many are there?”

“A few hundred– give or take.”

Skye made a low whistle. She took the bag of snack that was lying on the desk and did not say a word after that. She wondered how much Stark understood of what he was reading. The guy was a genius after all, he’d probably turn into an expert on transfer of energy before the night ended.

“I guess I’m used to sleeping on the Bus, you know,” she said without really looking at him, she laughed. “I’ve spent my whole life on the run, I used to live in a van and I managed to sleep anywhere but now–” Stark made no sign that he was even listening to her. “Fitz and Simmons and– er– they’re the closest thing I have to a family. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but it’s almost like having a home.”

Stark did look up then. He turned to her, and she could not identify the look on his face.

The truth was that Tony did not know any of them, trust them even less. But even he had to admit that in order to work as a team, they had to learn to trust each other.

“Help me with those articles, would you?” he finally said. “Between the two of us, we’ll be finished by morning.”

**oAo**

Tony was drinking a fresh cup of coffee – he had lost count of how many he had drunk that nigh – when FitzSimmons barged into the lab.

“Mr. Stark,” Simmons exclaimed. “Have you seen–”

They came to a halt when they saw that Skye was in fact asleep, her head resting on the keyboard. She did not evenstirat their sudden entrance.

“Did she spend the night here?” Fitz asked as Simmons went to Skye to wake her up.

She gently shook her shoulder. “Skye, Skye, wake up.”

“We were working,” answered Tony.

He pointed at the computer and nearly spilled his coffee. He wondered if he looked as exhausted as he felt. He probably did.

Skye woke up with a start and Tony snorted when he saw the prints of the keyboard on her cheek.

“We worried, you weren’t in your quarters,” Fitz explained.

“Sorry. I came to the lab last night.”

“Yeah, we worked on energy transfers,” Tony explained. “And I think I know how this could work but–”

“First we’ll go to the mess and have breakfast,” Simmons cut in.

Stark rolled his eyes at her but she ignored him as she took Skye by the arm and led her out of the lab.

When they entered the mess, Tony saw that Romanoff and Barton had just returnedfrom their top-secret mission. Cap was sitting with them and seemed to be discussing some important business with Natasha. Barton looked bored, he had crossed his legs over the table and his eyes were flicking around the room. When he saw Tony, he turned to Cap and slightly jerked his head. Tony could have sworn he saw relief cross Cap’s face for a brief second, but he could not be sure.

The four of them made their way to the table. He could feel FitzSimmons tense and fall into step behind him.

“Agent Romanoff, Barton, meet Agents Fitz, Simmons, and Skye,” he said.

The two agents nodded their acknowledgement. Tony took a seat next to Cap; the three younger agents sat down at the end of the table.

“So– you’re the team that Fury sent over, right?” Agent Barton asked.

They simply nodded. Even Skye seemed at a loss for words.

“I was filling in Natasha on our situation,” Cap explained.

“That’s a nasty situation you've got yourself into, Stark,” Barton said with a smirk. “Too bad I’m not part of the mission.”

“But are you not working with Agent Romanoff?” Fitz asked, his curiosity outweighing his nervousness at last.

“Not on this mission. Apparently Fury has some urgent business going on and he wants me to look into it. Man, I can’t even remember the last time I had time-off. Oh wait, actually it was just before Thor crashed on Earth.”

“First day of the first week, am I right?” Romanoff teased.

“You know you are, Nat.”

“Well, I supposed we can’t all be just consultant, right?” She glanced at Tony.

“Hey, I do have a company to run, in case you had forgotten.”

“Please! Pepper’s practically doing all the work.”

“And I’m a full time member of the Avengers.”

“We hadn’t had a major mission in months,” Romanoff countered.

“I’m working on a green auto-powered tower at the moment, can any of you guys can say the same?”

Before Barton could say anything, Cap cut in. “Maybe we should talk about the mission instead.”

Skye exchanged a look with her two teammates. Seriously, how these guys could even work as a team?

**oAo**

“What I don’t understand is how anyone could make a piece of tech as advanced as this,” Fitz said. “We don’t have the technology yet!”

Simmons shrugged and wrote down some more on their report. “I don’t know, Fitz. Maybe we’re dealing with someone who has access to some advanced tech. We’ve seen craziest things, after all.”

“You’re right, but I’d like to know where it comes from!”

“Yeah, if S.H.I.E.L.D has manage to find out where the second half of this thing is, why hasn’t anyone told us?” Skye noted.

“Fury’s very particular about who he shares his secrets with,” Stark snarled. The three agents glanced at each other.

“All you have to do is ask.”

They all turned around to see Agent Romanoff and Captain America enter the lab. The spy had a file in her hands and she practically threw it on the table. “Now I understand why Fury gave me this assignment,” she added and Steve nodded. He seemed kind of put out.

“What is it?”

“The reason why Fury thought I should take the job is because a branch of the Russian mob has hired some guy to create an unlimited source if power,” Agent Romanoff explained.

“And Fury has a file on them?” Tony asked. “What am I saying, of course Fury has a file on them.”

“Who is it?” Fitz asked.

“His name’s Ivan Pushkin,” Nastasha told them. “I met him once, a long time ago. He’s a dangerous man, I don’t want to see what he could do with a generator that powerful.”

“Actually, it’s not really a generator–” Fitz said but Simmons shot him a warning look.

“What is he doing in America?” Tony asked.

“According to Fury’s intel, he’s not in the country, but his team is.”

“Okay, so all we have to do is locate the missing piece of the device and take it somewhere safe.”

“It’s easier said than done, Stark. Do you have any way of locating the generator?” Steve asked.

“It’s not a generator,” Fitz mumbled. “And actually, we do.”

“How?” Agent Romanoff asked.

Her harsh tone made Fitz take a step back. “Now that we’ve analyzed the radiations of this generator– I mean– transfer device–”

“Fitz.”

“We can track down any similar radiations in the country.”

“Is it really that simple?”

“It’s anything but simple, Cap,” Tony answered. “But we can do it.”

“Good. As soon as you have a location, we’ll plan the retrieve mission,” Cap said. He nodded to the team and left the lab.

“You heard the man,” Stark exclaimed with false cheer. “We have work to do.”

“Stark,” Agent Romanoff said. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“I’m a bit busy right now, saving the day and stuff,” Stark said without looking at her.

“Now,” she said.

The three younger agents gulped. She hadn’t raised her voice, but damn did she look lethal. Stark sighed but even he was not stupid enough to defy the Widow. He followed her outside the lab.

“Hey, do you think they’ll let us go with them?” asked Skye. The door of the lab closed behind Tony.

They walked down the corridor during a few seconds that seemed to be the longest of Tony’s life. He wondered if they were also going to be his last. Natasha finally stopped and turned to face him. She gave him a harsh look.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know perfectly what I’m talking about, Stark. What’s going on with Steve?”

“With Cap? Nothing’s going on. It’s not my fault he’s been acting like a prick since we got here,” he exclaimed.

“Right,” scoffed Natasha. “So you haven’t done anything to piss him off?”

“No! I swear I’ve been on my best behavior.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, like I’m going to believe that. Whatever it is, you better have fixed it before we start the mission. I’m not going out in the field with you two if you can’t stop acting like children.”

“Oh, because I’m the one acting like a child? I haven’t done anything!”

“I don’t care. Whatever it is, fixe it!” And she walked away.

“I haven’t done anything!” he yelled after her in the – mostly – empty corridor.

A young agent glared at him, Tony huffed and went back to the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about Barton's bad luck with holidays comes from the comicbook Fury's Big Week, it's set in the MCU and it's pure genius.


	5. Is this what a field trip with the Avengers looks like ?

The briefing was tense to say the least. Skye had no idea what Agent Romanoff had told Stark, but he had been in a foul mood ever since their little chat the day before. He had come into the lab frowning, had barked at Fitz, gulped down five cups of coffee and had probably spent the entire night working in the lab.

She wondered if meetings were always this tensed when you worked for Nick Fury. They most probably were. Skye gazed around the room at large. Stark was explaining the way the device worked. Cap was listening with a frown on his face; he seemed tense and was not even looking at Tony. Obviously they had not solved their communication issues yet. Agent Romanoff was listening with interest. She was the one to present the location of the second part of the device and the group they had to confront.

“I know them well,” she said to Fury in particular.

Skye had the feeling she was missing some essential classified information here.

Fury nodded. “What's the plan?” he asked.

“I think Rogers and I should go and retrieve the device. We still don’t know why they have it or what they plan to do with it.” Cap nodded.

“I should go with them,” Stark added. “To secure the device before we bring it in.”

“You should stay here and work on the one we already have,” Steve countered.

“The kids can stay here, but you’ll need me with you,” Stark argued.

“Hey! We’re coming with you!” Skye exclaimed. No way they would ditch her and let her rot in here.

“It’s too dangerous,” Cap said.

“Maybe we should listen to him,” Fitz suggested.

“No way! We were sent here to work on this mission, and we can handle ourselves in the field. Plus, FitzSimmons have some pretty cool toys you’ll probably need.”

Agent Romanoff crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s right, Sir. We’ll need them to make sure everything is secure before heading back.”

Fury sighed. “Alright, but they’re your responsibility,” he said to Romanoff. She nodded solemnly.

“All right.” Stark clasped his hands. “How are we going to retrieve this thing?”

**oAo**

Skye was all suited up for the mission and heading toward the garage. The team had been assigned a van by Director Fury. The plan was simple, really, yet Skye could not help but feel uneasy about the whole thing. That was ridiculous of course, they were going out on a mission with the Avengers! Well – _part_ of the Avengers. She was safer than ever before.

Skye met with Simmons and Fitz, and together they joined Stark and Captain America. She noticed Agent Romanoff talking to Steve and was going to comment on it when Agent Barton appeared out of nowhere.

“I thought you weren’t coming with us,” she pointed out.

“Change of plan, seems like a thing I don’t want to miss after all.”

She noticed the tiniest of smile on Romanoff’s face before the Agent took the wheel. Skye did not even for a second think about calling gunshot. Barton sat beside Agent Romanoff while Fitz, Simmons and Skye climbed in the back of the van.

“Aren’t Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers coming with us?” Simmons asked when Romanoff started the engine.

“They’re going there on their own,” answered the agent.

Simmons clearly seemed curious but was altogether too polite to ask for more details.

“It’s the coolest thing really,” Barton chipped in.“Stark can take someone flying with him when he’s in the suit.”

“Well, just not _anyone_ ,” Romanoff pointed out.

“Right,” Barton acknowledge with a smirk. They seemed to be sharing some kind of inside joke. Skye turned to FitzSimmons with a confused frown but they seemed just as confused.

They drove in silence for a while. Skye was trying to find something to occupy herself with on the computers; Fitz and Simmons were checking their equipment, trying to do as little noise as possible. As for Barton, he was starting to fidget on his seat and Romanoff was periodically sending him annoyed glares.

After what seemed to be an eternity to Skye, Agent Romanoff finally parked the van a few blocks away from their destination. They got out of the car just as a flash of red and gold caught Skye’s eyes. So, _that’s_ what they were talking about earlier. She could see that Captain America was somehow gripping at Iron Man’s suit as they flew above them. Stark made a perfect landing.

“Show off,” Barton smirked.

“We’re supposed to keep a low profile, Stark,” Agent Romanoff exclaimed.

“Killjoy,” Stark mumbled.

He took off his face plate and Skye saw him smirking. Agent Romanoff elected to simply ignore him and turned to the younger agents.

“Stay here while I go in. When the coast is clear, I’ll call you so you can secure the device.” She gave them all pointed looks until they all nodded. Only then did she walked away.

“I really don’t like this plan,” Tony said as Romanoff entered the warehouse. “Did I tell you that?”

“Actually, you did,” Barton replied.

“Alright, just checking.”

“She’s the best for this job,” Cap reminded them.

“She can handle herself,” Barton added.

“Alright, Skye give me this thing you made to scan the area,” Stark said as he took the tablet from her. Green lights were starting to pop up across the screen.

“You _made_ this?” Barton asked, clearly impressed.

“Fitz and Simmons made the tablet, I just uploaded a new program that could read the radiations emitted by the device.”

“Impressive.”

Simmons blushed furiously and Fitz awkwardly cleared his throat. They were not used to being complimented like that by senior agents. Skye looked at the tablet over Tony’s shoulder, hiding her smile. They were getting some peaks of energy coming from the warehouse.

“It’s taking too long,” Fitz muttered. “Shouldn’t she be back by now?”

A few minutes passed before Agent Romanoff appeared. She seemed unharmed and was making her way out of the building.

“Something’s wrong,” Barton said as he grabbed his bow.

Skye was about to ask what he meant by that when she heard gunshots. She saw Romanoff run for cover behind a huge dumpster, Baton was already shooting arrow at their opponents; Iron Man was flying above them.

“Stay here,” Cap ordered.

Then he jumped into the fight. Skye had never seen anything like it before. She had her doubts about the team but she had to admit that they worked well together. Iron Man shot a few guys out cold with hisrepulsors before blowing a whole into one of the walls of the warehouse. Their opponents were heavily armed, some of them were positioned on the rooftop for a better viewpoint but Captain America knocked them all out with a single throw of his shield.

Watching the Avengers in action was both humbling and frustrating. She usually had no problem talking back to Coulson but even she was not crazy enough to disregard a direct order from Captain America himself.

As suddenly as they had started, the gunshots stopped. Skye sneaked a peek from their hiding point and realized that the fight was over. Baton and Romanoff tied up their opponents while Cap jogged to them.

“Take your stuff,” he said. “We’re going in.”

Fitz and Simmons gathered their cases and followed Cap to the entrance of the building where the rest of the team was already waiting for them.

Romanoff, gun in hand, turned to Captain Rogers. “All clear,” she said.

Cap nodded. “Alright, we’re going to split up to cover more grounds. Widow, Hawkeye, I need you to keep your eyes open just in case. You three…” Fitz looked up as he opened the case containing the dwarfs. “Find this device.”

“It shouldn’t take too long,” Fitz said as all the dwarfs but one soared in the air. “Come on, Grumpy,” he mumbled.

“Who is that you’re calling grumpy?” Barton asked, on the defensive.

“It’s the name of this little dear,” Simmons explained without missing a beat. “They’re all named after the Seven Dwarfs.”

“Cute,” Barton said before turning on his heels to search the area.

Skye noted the equivalent of a smile on Romanoff's face before the agent turned around and followed Barton.

Fitz and Simons were busy reading the data the dwarfs were already collecting while Skye and Stark were gathered around the tablet.

“Do you see these strange fluctuations on the chart?” Skye asked.

“I wonder where they come from,” Stark told her.

They both walked down a series of corridors, following the signal.

"It's coming from in here," Skye said. Iron Man opened the door.

All of a sudden – Skye did not have time to register what happened – Iron Man was using his whole body as a shield to protect her as the walls collapsed on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn’t planned to cut the chapter here but I actually couldn’t resist the cliffhanger, sorry guys.
> 
> Anyway, anyone else would have wanted to see Iron Man take Cap for a flight in Age of Ultron?


	6. A tete-a-tete with Iron Man

The whole building started to shake around them.

“Skye!” Simmons exclaimed as somebody – Agent Romanoff judging by the red hair – drove her away.

**oAo**

Iron Man had shielded her as the walls collapsed on them. When Skye opened her eyes, she saw nothing but red and dust around her. She blinked and started to cough violently.

“You alright, kid?” Stark asked. He took off his helmet.

Skye took a look around them. Part of the walls had collapsed and there seemed to be no way out of the room.

“Either it’s a crazy coincidence, or the room was trapped.”

“What do you mean?” she asked between two coughing fits.

“I mean that they might have insured no one but them took the device. It means that we’re close.”

“See, told you you’d need us to find it,” Skye said cheerfully. Stark gave her an unimpressed look.

“We need to find a way out of here,” he said. He looked around, frowning.

“Could you blow a hole over there to get us out?” Skye asked.

Stark seemed to ponder the option. “Nah,” he finally decided. “It could bring the whole building down.”

Skye nodded. “Not a good idea then.”

She sighed and ran a hand over her face. Her arms and hands were covered in cuts, she could feel blood running down her face and her right wrist was hurting like hell.

“Do you really think that the room was trapped?” Skye asked as Stark inspected the wreckage.

He hummed absentmindedly. “Why are you asking?”

“It probably means that the others are alright, then?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. Skye sat on the floor with a groan. “Could you help me find a way out of here by any chance?” Stark asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“How?” she exclaimed. “I only have this tablet.”

“It’ll do,” he said and took the tablet. Then his face softened a bit, he glanced at Skye sitting on the floor. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “I’m sure your girlfriend is okay.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Skye sighed. She pressed her hand over her eyes and groaned in pain.

“You sure?” Stark asked, not looking up from the screen. “Because you two looked pretty chummy.”

“Well, she’s not,” she countered.

“But you want her to be,” Stark stated.

“Shouldn’t you be focusing on getting us out of here?”

“I’m a genius, I can multitask,” he replied.

“Great, so let’s talk about what’s going on with you and Cap, then,” Skye smirked.

“Nothing’s going on,” Stark muttered.

“Please,” she huffed. “You really expect me to believe that?” she asked in disbelief.

“You’re sure you didn’t hit your head, kid?”

Skye gave him an unimpressed look before she slowly stood up. She closed her eyes against a sudden wave of dizziness and finally made her way toward Stark and took the tablet from him.

"Can't you ask JARVIS to find a way to get us out of here?" she asked.

A pained look crossed Tony's face. "The helmet is damaged; I can't access the communication system."

Skye groaned. "Great, that's just great!"

"The good news is," Tony exclaimed with false cheer. "The program you uploaded on the tablet is still working, and I detect some radiations coming from here."

He climbed a heap of rocks and gave her his hand to help her up. Then they made their way through the wreckage and stumbled upon a security door that seemed to somehow have withstander the blow.

"It's locked," he said, pointing at the panel.

Skye shrugged. She took the tablet from him and kneeled down. "I'll take care of it." She frowned and pressed a few keys. "By the way, how do we know we've found it?" she said as the door opened.

Skye got back on her feet and froze. In the center of the room they had just found was a huge circle shaped piece of tech. It looked like a well, if wells had been metal-framed and perpendicular to the ground instead of _on_ the ground. It seemed high and deep enough for a grown man to stand on it. The blueprint they had of it was clearly not to scale.

"Wow." She turned to Tony.

"We may have trouble getting this back to HQ," Tony pointed out.

**oAo**

"Natasha, call for backup," Steve ordered as calmly as he could. He could not afford the luxury of giving in to panic. He still had a team to command and two teammates that needed his help. "Tell Fury what happened here. Quick."

Natasha nodded and went back to the van to send a message to HQ. Beside him, Steve could see Barton fidget, hand on his bow.

"We need to get them out of here," Agent Simmons exclaimed as she took a step forward.

Barton grabbed her arm. "You can't help them if you end up crushed under a pile of rocks," he countered reasonably.

"We need to know if they're alright," Steve said and Barton gave him a comforting look. Steve turned to Simmons and Fitz. "Do you think you could use the…"

"The Dwarfs! Yes, of course!" Simmons cut in. She blushed furiously and turned to Fitz. "They might help us find a way through the wreckage."

Simmons did not even let him answer, she took the remote from him. "Some of them are still inside the building, if I could… here…"

"Do you think Tony can use his repulsors to blast his way out of there?" Clint asked.

"No without bringing down the whole building," Steve answered with a frown. He went to Simmons and could not help but look over her shoulder.

The Dwarfs were sending them data from inside the building through their temperature sensors. The dwarf named Sneezy was making its way along what used to be a corridor, sending them live footage of the building. Most of the walls inside had collapsed, and the dwarf was having a hard time making its way through all the dust. Steve felt his heart plummet. How could have he left something like this happened?

At Simmons' sudden squeal, Steve focused his attention back on the screen and…. yes, here they were. He could see Tony – without his helmet – and Skye on the screen. They seemed mostly unharmed although it was hard to tell through all the dust. Skye seemed to have spotted the dwarf and she waved at them through the monitor. He heard Simmons sight with relief beside him. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Good job, now get them out of there," he said with a smile.

They waited for what seemed like forever to Steve. Natasha had come back from the van, told him she had contacted SHIELD and stood beside him in silence. Finally, they heard a rumble coming from the building. They first saw Sneezy making its way out, promptly followed but Tony and Skye. Tony looked mostly unharmed, although his suit and helmet looked in pretty bad shape. Skye, on the other hand, was limping, and her face was covered in blood and dust. Out of the corner of his eyes, Steve saw Simmons ran to the girl and draw her in a bone crushing hug. Skye winced and Simmons quickly let go of her.

"Sorry, sorry," she said. "We need to get you back to HQ. Fitz!"

Fitz ran to them. They each took one of Skye's arms over their shoulders and helped her back to the van.

"We've found it," Skye said.

"And it's bigger than we thought."

Steve found that he could not care less about the stupid thing at this moment. He caught Tony's eyes and only nodded, the lump in his throat preventing him from answering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's nothing better than a Skimmons hug.


	7. Skye and Tony book a room, Tony complains about the view

"I don't need this," Stark stated as he poked at his IV.

"Mr. Stark…" tried the young nurse that had been unlucky enough to be assigned to their room. "You really need to rest, a whole building collapsed on you!"

"That's not the first time," he snorted.

In fact, when the building had collapsed on them, Tony had been reminded during a second of another time, another building, far from D.C. When he was in Malibu, he had given his address to a psychopath and his house had been destroyed, while Pepper had still been inside… no wonder she had broken up with him a few weeks later.

Tony glared one last time at the nurse before she huffed and left the room without another word. Skye giggled, which led to another coughing fit. She was lying on her bed, her back resting against a pillow whereas Tony left his legs hanging from the bed, ready to run at any second. He really did not need any of this, he was fine. Skye on the other hand had several cuts and bruises and her sprained wrist was now bandaged. She looked really pale.

The door of the room opened. Tony was ready to bark at anyone who would try to come near him but he realized he did not need to.

"How are you feeling?" Simmons asked as she rushed to Skye's bed.

Fitz sat on the chair between the beds. "We were worried; they didn't let us in, so we kind of sneaked in when the nurse left."

"I'm impressed," Skye told them with a proud smile. She glanced at Simmons as the other girl checked the IV, the charts and all her vitals.

The agent touched Skye's face, fussed over her bandaged wrist and even tried to take her pulse. "Do you feel nauseous?" she asked. "Dizzy?" She checked Skye eyes using a light. "Any headache?"

Skye gently batted her hands away. "Simmons, I'm fine. I swear."

Her friend did not look convinced but she let it go and sat on the edge of Skye's bed. "How are you feeling, Mr. Stark?" she then asked.

Tony shrugged. "I've had worse," he simply said.

Simmons rolled her eyes, she seemed fed up with people refusing medical attention. She patted Skye's arm absently and was about to add something when the door opened again.

Agent Romanoff and Barton came inside the room. Romanoff looked as calm as ever but Skye could have sworn the agent's face was paler than before.

"I don't know how you do it," she said. "You've got a whole building to explore and you manage to end up in the only room that was trapped."

"Well, I managed to find the device, so…" Stark noted.

" _We_ found it," Skye corrected.

"Right, we found it," he amended.

Romanoff shook her head and Barton smirked. "Fury said you can start working on it as soon as you're out of here," Barton informed him.

"Great, now I just need to actually get out of here," he said, trying to get up.

"Mr. Stark, I don't think…"

"Stark…"

"You did take a roof on you head, Stark," Barton underlined.

"Here," Romanoff said. She handed him the tablet she had been carrying. "You can play with this until the doctor releases you." She put the tablet on the bed, nodded to Skye and then left the room.

"That was fun guys," Barton said. "Fury definitely should send you here more often." He gave Stark one last look before following Romanoff outside.

"We should go too," Fitz said. "Before the angry nurse comes back." He carefully patted Skye's good hand and gave her a smile. "Get better, all right?" She nodded.

Simmons still looked worried when she smiled at her before leaving the room. When Skye turned to Stark, he was already engrossed in his tablet. Skye sighed and resigned herself to long hours of boredom.

She did not last long before starting to pest Stark about his tablet.

"Get your own, kid," he answered without looking up.

"Come on, I'm going crazy here, there's nothing to do and there's no TV!"

Stark snorted. "Figures, billions of dollars of equipment and they don't even have a TV."

Skye gave him a look and sighed once more.

"All right, all right, here, I don't need it anyway," he gave in.

Skye took the tablet, almost letting out a cry of relief. "I missed you so much," she cooed. She heard Stark snicker.

They spend a few minutes talking quietly until the door opened again. Skye did not look up from her tablet straight away but she heard Stark's sharp intake of breath. She took a peek at him and noticed that Captain America was standing in their room. Skye immediately looked back at her tablet. She would rather not have to witness the reunion between Captain America and Iron Man. Well, judging by the way Cap was glaring at Tony, it would not be a joyful reunion anyway.

"How are you feeling?" Cap asked quietly as he made his way to Tony's bed.

Skye tried her best not to listen in but Cap's worried tone was too much to ignore.

"Cap, I'm fine, I don't even know why they keep me here," Stark answered.

Skye could feel Captain Rogers' unimpressed look without even looking up. "I'd tell you to be more careful, but you never listen, do you?"

Stark sighed. "How could I have known that the building was trapped? Anyway, for once I _was_ following your orders, Captain. You're the one who said we had to cover more grounds."

 _Wow_. Skye had to restrain from groaning. _That was low, Stark_ , she thought.

Cap sighed. "Right, you're right, I'm sorry." Skye resisted the urge to take a peek when she heard Cap patting Stark's hand. "Skye." She did look up when she heard her name and noticed how tired the leader of the team looked. "I'm sorry for what happened," Cap told her. He gave Tony one last indecipherable look before leaving.

When Skye turned to him, Tony seemed stunned. "So, did you two make up or what?" she smirked.

"Mind your own business, kid," he answered. "How are you feeling?" he asked after a moment.

"Like I was nearly crushed to death," Skye answered truthfully. "But, hey, now I get to say that I was rescued by Iron Man himself, so that's a plus."

"We shouldn’t have let you kids come," he mournfully said.

"Hey," Skye exclaimed. She waited until he looked up to add, "We wanted to come. Fitz and Simmons wanted to use their toys and they were just looking for the right occasion. What happened wasn’t your fault.” Tony looked skeptical. “I’m serious, you saved my life back there. So, thank you.”


	8. Did you say parallel universe?

Skye let out a huge sigh once the doors of the infirmary closed behind her. She had been cooped up in here for too long. Well, it actually had been only a day and a night, but she was glad to get back to work. Simmons had gone to check on her before she left the infirmary and they were now walking down the corridor with Stark. Tony seemed more than ready to go back to work and solve the mystery of the device they had got into so much trouble to find. Simmons and Stark had immediately begun to talk about all the simulations they had to run and Skye let the words wash over her. She smiled. It was good to be back.

“… energy through a wormhole, that’s physically impossible,” Simmons said and Skye rolled her eyes. The two scientists were arguing once more about the possibly of energy transfer between universes. Well, the only way to settle that argument was to go back to the lab and resume their studies of the device.

“According to Romanoff, this Pushkin character is interested in all kind of tech; he’s probably looking for an unlimited source of power. It would be the ultimate weapon, imagine an energy source that doesn’t have to generate power, you’d just have to take it from elsewhere, in this case another universe,” Stark explained.

“I’m sure once we’ve studied it thoroughly, we’ll find that–”

Simmons froze mid-sentence. Skye frowned and followed her gaze to the end of the corridor. She raised an eyebrow. Agent Jasper Sitwell was making his way down the corridor with two fellow agents. When he saw Simmons and Skye, he narrowed his eyes and gave them a dirty look as he passed them.

“What was that all about?” Tony asked once Sitwell had turned at the corner.

Skye smirked. “Remember when I told you Simmons had knocked out an agent?” she asked.

“No way, that was Sitwell?” Skye nodded. Stark turned to Simmons, “I didn’t think you had it in you, kid. I must say, I'm impressed,” he told her.

Simmons hid her face in her hands and shook her head mournfully. Skye, who had been trying hard not to laugh, lost it then. She let out a giggle. “You’re such a bad liar,” she told Simmons, trying to catch her breath. “We were lucky Sitwell is kind of useless and didn’t even try to defend himself, though,” she added. Stark huffed a laugh.

“Well, it wasn’t a pleasant experience,” Simmons mumbled.

**oAo**

When they entered the lab, Fitz was already at work, leaning over a set of blueprints. Skye noticed that the part of the device they had found during their recent mission had been brought up to the lab and was now sitting at the back of the room. It seemed even bigger now compared to the rest of their equipment.

Simmons went to collect a lab coat and a pair of goggles whereas Tony went to the coffee pot he had set up in the lab. Only after having drunk a whole cup did he turn to Fitz.

“Did you find anything?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve just started but I can already tell you that the smaller device that we found is in fact controlling this thing,” he pointing at the ring-shaped contraption.

“But we noticed that it produced power on its own, right?” Skye asked, puzzled.

“That’s right,” Fitz nodded. “I think it’s supposed to work on its own but the energy emitted is much less powerful, maybe it was a prototype for the whole thing.”

“That would be logical, according to Romanoff, they may not work alone,” Stark explained. “They were looking for collaborators; they probably were trying to impress them.”

“The bigger device can’t work on its own, though,” Fitz added. “The smaller one kind of work like a remote control, I’ve been studying all the control keys and I think I’ve found out how to turn it on.”

Simmons nodded, tying her hair in a low ponytail. “Shall we try it?” she asked.

Stark shrugged. “It seems to be the only way to understand how it works,” he simply said. He turned to Fitz, who pressed a few keys on the first device. There was a moment of silence during which the team wondered if that contraption even worked but then there was a great rumble as the device turned on. Fascinated, Skye watched as the ring began to fill with greenish light; it turned and turned inside the ring, creating shapes and small bolts of lightning.

“Steady at five percent,” Fitz declared.

Simmons leaned over the control screen. “According to these charts, power’s accumulating inside the ring but the device itself doesn’t create it…” Stark gave her a knowing look and her eyes grew wide.

“I think this is the proof you needed,” Skye noted with a smirk.

The team worked in the lab for the most part of the day. They had so much to do, and trying to understand how the device had been created was on top of their list. They also had to determine if they could use this source of power in the long run. Skye heard Tony mumble about arc reactor and unlimited power and wondered what he thought about all this.

Fury had sent them here to study this mysterious device – which meant that they had to write a very large report on the matter – but what really worried Skye was the idea of this device been used for the wrong reasons. She watched FitzSimmons and Stark working. They were so engrossed in their studies and this scientific enigma that they did not stop once to ask themselves if they _should_ use it.

**oAo**

When the doors of the lab opened to reveal Cap, Fitz and Stark were animatedly discussing their latest findings. They had detected some weird particles inside the beam.

“Exotic particles?” Stark wondered.

“Coming from this parallel universe into our world,” Fitz filled in.

Stark had not even noticed the doors opening, Cap walked to him and looked over Tony’s shoulder. He frowned; Skye guessed that what he was reading on the screen was not making much sense to him. She felt the same, when Fitz and Simmons went on a science spree, she felt utterly lost. The words that left their mouths were not making any sense to her.

Stark turned his head and finally noticed Cap’s face really close to him.

“Oh, hi, Cap,” Stark greeted.

“Did you make any progress?” Cap asked with a smile.

 _Do they really have to stand so close to each other?_ Skye wondered. She smirked.

Stark nodded. “We noticed some exotic particles coming through; it probably comes from the parallel universe with the energy beam. We may need to create a containment field or deflect some part of the beam.”

“You’re not speaking English right now,” Cap simply said and Stark rolled his eyes. “Fury wants a first report on your findings,” he added.

“That’s what I hate the most about this job,” Stark underlined. “Well, that’s not true, what I hate the most about this job is actually Loki, but reports are almost as evil.” Cap gave him an impressed look. “FitzSimmons can go report to Fury,” he dismissed, waving his hand. Fitz gave him an indignant look and Stark chuckled. “Alright, I’ll go and talk to Fury myself… traitors.”

“Your report can wait,” Cap said. “You can go to Fury in the morning, right now you need rest.”

Before Stark could open his mouth to protest, Simmons cut him, “Captain Rogers’s right, you should take it easy for a few days.”

Stark turned to her, and gave her a betrayed look. He could not believe that quiet and pliant Agent Simmons would turn against him like this. Stark sighed and followed Cap out of the room. Skye watched them go, a small smile on her lips.

Simmons turned to Skye. “You should get some rest too, you know,” she said quietly. Skye nodded and the three of them made their way out of the lab.

**oAo**

“I might have found a way to prevent exotic particles from coming through,” Stark said as soon as they entered the lab in the morning. “Exotic particles are automatically created when a bridge between two universes appears but they can be contained.”

“When did you become such an expert on parallel universes anyway?” Skye asked as she walked to him.

“You need to do your homework, kid,” Stark replied.

“But you left the lab before we did!”

“I worked on my laptop,” Stark explained.

Skye muffled a laugh when she saw Simmons’ exasperate look. Then the four of them resumed the work they had started the day before. Fitz was examining the core structure of the device to understand how it could withstand the ginormous amount of energy that went through it. Tony was thinking about a way to store all the energy for later use. Skye and Simmons were looking through all the data that Agent Romanoff had gave them on this Ivan Pushkin character.

Fury had even given them special clearance to read Romanoff’s report on this particular mission. The agent had had to infiltrate their organization a few years back when Pushkin had commissioned a fellow Russian to design weapons. Romanoff’s mission was to drag out this engineer so that Pushkin could not sell the weapons. But when Pushkin had put together a meeting with the leader of a rival organization in order to kill him, Romanoff had been caught in the crossfire and the engineer had been killed. Romanoff had been injured and had had to get back to SHIELD by herself as no extraction team had been put together. She had met Pushkin in person only once and the description she gave of him made Skye’s hair stand. He had an interest in several field – anything that would make money, really – but he was clearly obsess with tech and now that his team had come to America, he posed a real threat to S.H.I.E.L.D.

“I’m going to get some coffee,” Stark said. Skye looked up from her work and noticed that they had used all the coffee they had.

A few moments after Stark left the lab; Skye heard a curious throbbing coming from the device. She glanced at FitzSimmons, who jumped on their feet. The three of them watched in fascination as a greyish beam of light appeared inside the ring. They had to cover their eyes against the intensity of the beam.

When the light disappeared, Skye saw someone standing on the edge of the ring, someone in an Iron Man suit.

"Okay, now that's just weird," Skye said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is this person? Someone I reaaally want to cameo in an episode of Agent of SHIELD, in a few years you know, if they ever introduce alternate realities into the MCU…


	9. Natasha Stark: genius, billionaire, philanthropist, alternate universe-traveler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So apparently Tony is a girl in another reality

Skye could not help herself; she blatantly gaped at the person standing in front of them. The newcomer pulled up her faceplate; her dark hair was gathered in a low ponytail, her dark brown eyes were scanning the room at large. She finally set her gaze on Skye. Skye gulped.

"Who are you?" Skye managed to ask. She turned to Simmons and Fitz for some support but the two agents seemed at a loss.

"I need to talk to the person in charge of this project," the woman said, ignoring Skye's question.

Skye was about to ask her about the suit when the doors of the lab opened. Stark stepped inside the room with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Hey, kids, I just… What the hell?" he exclaimed. "Where did you get that?" Stark asked immediately, pointing at the suit. "Did you steal it? Who gave it to you? The US Army? AIM?  Hammer?" Stark was getting frantic.

"Hammer?" the woman scoffed. "Are you for real? Justin Hammer wouldn't know good tech even if it bits him in his tailor-made suited ass!I made this suit myself!"

Stark paused. "Well, that's all really impressive, lady, but the suit is mine. You can't just make one."

"What–"

Stark turned to FitzSimmons and Skye. "I leave the lab for five minutes to get coffee and _this_ happens?"

"She just appeared out of nowhere, Mr. Stark," Fitz explained.

"Stark?" the woman asked, baffled.

The tension in the room was getting thicker and thicker. And then Steve Rogers stepped into the lab.

"Steve?" the woman exclaimed.

Cap gave her a curious look. "What's going on here? Who are you?"

Her eyes got wide. "You mean you don't know who I am?" she asked in dismay.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but this is a restricted area. How did you come in?"

"She just appeared out of nowhere!" Fitz said again.

"All of you, shut up!" the woman exclaimed. They all looked at her in surprise. She took a deep breath and went on. "Listen to me, I come from an alternate reality, my name is Natasha Stark and I am Iron Woman."

They all talked at once after this revelation.

“Alternate reality?” Simmons exclaimed. “That’s impossible!”

“Stark is a _girl_?” Skye asked.

“What do you mean _Stark_?” Tony cried out.

“Stark, what’s going on?” Cap asked,turning to Tony.

The woman – Natasha Stark – looked at Cap and Tony.

“Wait a minute, _you’re_ Stark?” she asked, pointing at Tony. She seemed even more puzzled after Tony nodded. “But–” She closed her eyes for a second. “Is Director Fury here?” she asked. Steve nodded. “I need to talk to him right now.”

They all seemed reluctant to let herwander their secret base but Captain Rogers finally gave her a curt nod. The woman’s suit dismantled and rearranged itself in a red brief case at her feet. She seemed to hesitate.

“You can leave it here,” Stark answered her silent question. “We’ll lock the lab.”

They all left the room, and Natasha Stark followed them quietly as they made their way to Fury’s office. Skye would have thought that the arrival of the woman would not go unnoticed but no one seemed concerned about her presence. The small group arrived in front of Fury’s office. The woman did not bother to knock and went ahead.

“Nick,” she said as she stepped into the office. “We need to talk.”

Fury looked up and frowned at her. “And you are?”

The woman rolled her eyes at the Director. Before she could answer however, Stark declared, “Apparently, she’s me. From an alternate reality.”

Fury turned his suspicious glare to Tony.

“We don’t have much time,” the woman cut in. “I need you to stop this device at once.”

**oAo**

Tony's eyes landed on the woman. The kids seemed weirded out by this newcomer but it was nothing compared to what Tony was feeling. Having his doppelganger from an alternate reality show up at SHIELD was _not_ what he had signed up for. He looked at her closely, they had the same hair color, the same eyes, and they even had the same nose for heaven's sake! And she had shown up in an Iron suit. Tony wondered about the arc reactor she was probably hiding under her sweater. The only notable difference – aside from the fact that she was, you know, a _woman_ – was that she seemed approximately ten years younger than him. The whole thing seemed weirder by the minute. And then he noticed the ring on her finger. Tony did a double take. So, girl-him was apparently married, proof enough that they _were_ different after all.

Fury called in Agent Barton and Romanoff and thus begun the weirdest meeting Skye had ever attended. They were all standing in Fury’s office – well, Fury remained sited at his desk – Fitz and Simmons were still gaping at Natasha Stark with both wonder and dread, Barton was spinning a pen between his fingers, Romanoff seemed perplexed – in a spy kind of way, Cap looked tense, and Tony seemed to be losing his patience. As for the woman… well, Skye could read Tony's exact same expression on _her_ face.

“I’m guessing – and correct me if I’m wrong,” Natasha Stark said in a tone of voice implying there was no way she could have been mistaking. “You started to work on a device that could provide an unlimited source of power.” At Simmons and Fitz’s nod, she went on. “The problem is that the energy doesn’t come from your universe. From what I’ve understood, it is taking out energy directly from another universe. _My_ universe, to be precise.”

Simmons gasped. “That’s horrible!”

“We didn't know this universe was inhabited,” Fitz explained. “We’ve only just started studying the device.”

The woman nodded in acknowledgment. “I thought as much. When Reed and I first discovered the singularity, we didn’t understand what was happening.”

“Wait a minute,” Stark cut in. “Reed, as in Reed _Richards_?”

“Of course," she said. "Don’t you know him?”

“Oh, I know him,” Tony answered. “I just don’t _talk_ to him, that’s all.”

The woman seemed surprised for a second before shaking her head. “Anyway,” she said with a pointed look to Stark. “Your experiment is tearing a hole in the very fabric of my universe as we speak.” Fitz and Simmons both seemed horrified.

“You came here to ask us to shut down the device, didn’t you?” Steve asked at last. He had not said a word since they had left the lab and did not seem to be able to stop staring at the woman.

Natasha Stark nodded.

“Why not send Reed Richards?” he asked. “From what I understand, he’s the expert on alternate realities.”

“He couldn’t just leave Sue and the kids,” the woman answered. “And we needed a suit to travel inside the wormhole; it provides protection and the power needed to reach the other side. So I volunteered.”

“Excuse me,” Fury cut in. “You can’t just pop in and ask us to shut down an entire project.”

Natasha Stark turned to face him. Her gaze had become murderous. “You don’t seem to understand what’s at stake here,” she exclaimed.

“You’re the one who doesn't understand me, Miss Stark–”

“It’s _Doctor_ Stark-Rogers,” she declared. Her tone suggested that she had made the exact same correction a thousand times before. Barton dropped his pen. “Don’t you understand what I just said? We don’t have _time_ for this! We need to hurry before this device tears out my universe!”

Her statement was met with silence.

 “Huh, excuse me,” Tony called out. “Did you just say Stark- _Rogers_?”

_Wow_ , Skye had not seen that one coming.

The woman glared at him. "Is this really all you picked up from my explanation?" she asked in disbelief. Tony raised his hands in surrender.

" _Doctor_ ," Fury went on. "I understand your position, I do. Now you need to understand mine. I can't shut down an entire project because someone from an _alternate reality_ asks me to."

"But–"

Fury raised his hand to stop her. Natasha Stark glared at him but kept quiet. "I need to talk to my team." He nodded to Barton and Romanoff who stood up immediately. Natasha Stark rolled her eyes but followed them outside without making a fuss.

"How could _this_ happen?" Fury barked, pointing at the door. "Stark, I need an explanation, now!"

"Apparently, the device that you got into so much trouble to find is tearing a whole in time and space." At Fury's dirty look, Stark went on. "The science behind it is very complex, but in simple words, we can say that the device has created a bridge between our two universes," he lifted his two hands, each one representing one universe. "And it's pumping power directly from her universe and throwing it in our universe. That's where the power comes from."

"She mentioned a singularity,” Fitz added. "The activation of the device could have created…"

"A wormhole," Simmons completed. "And it is most likely expanding as we speak."

"Yes," Fitz went on. "It's going to expand until it swallows the earth and it won't stop until her whole universe is gone."

Fury looked like someone had punched him in his good eye. "Can we stop it?"

Fitz and Simmons exchanged a look. "We have to try," Fitz said resolutely.

"It's our fault, Sir," Simmons added. "We turned on the device to study it. We can't stand by doing nothing."

Fury turned to Cap. "Captain?"

Skye noticed a slight tension in Cap's shoulders. "I think we should trust her," he answered finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, I really love Marvel canon sometimes, especially when it gives us character like Natasha Stark-Rogers.


	10. The more (Starks) the merrier

When Agent Hill barged into his office, Fury did not even look up from the file in front of him.

"What is it now, Hill?" he sighed.

"Parallel universes, Sir? Is this really what we have come to?" She ran a hand over her face. "God with magical hammer, I can understand, sort of… But this! This is madness! Do we even have protocols for this kind of situation?" Hill took a deep breath and glared at her superior.

She saw something like resignation flicking in his eye when he answered. "I don't think any protocol could help us right now."

**oAo**

After much deliberation on Fury’s part, it was decided that they had to turn off the device.

“We need to send you home first, though,” Skye underlined.

They were in the lab and Romanoff and Barton had just come in to tell them the news. Doctor Stark shook her head mournfully. “The beam is unidirectional,” she explained. “I came here to prevent the destruction of my universe, and my work is done.”

“But you–” Fitz started. “It means you can’t go back!”

“But you knew that, didn’t you?” Stark asked, glaring at her. Doctor Stark held Tony’s gaze before she slowly nodded. Stark huffed and left the lab without a word. Skye watched him go, surprised by the sudden outburst.

“So apparently Starks are self-sacrificing jerks in every universe,” Barton noted.

Doctor Stark gave him a dirty look. “If I’m stuck here, I’ll need to talk with Fury,” she said and Romanoff nodded. Doctor Stark had to be escorted by at least one agent when leaving the lab. Fury’s orders.

“It's going to get really confusing with two Natashas around,” Barton said.

Agent Romanoff slapped him at the back of his head before following Doctor Stark outside the lab. Barton waved at FitzSimmons and Skye before leaving as well. The three younger agents were left alone in the room.

“We have to find a way to send her back!” Skye exclaimed as soon as the doors closed. “She came all the way here to save the world, she left her _husband_ in another universe, all her friends, her home… we can’t just– We need to _do_ something.” She turned to Fitz and Simmons who were looking at her with wide eyes. Skye went over to the device and looked at the green light inside. With all this commotion, Stark had left the lab without even turning it off. Skye rolled her eyes, they had spent so much time trying to make it work that they had no idea if they could even turn it off without causing damage to the balance of the universe or whatever was the word that Doctor Stark-Rogers had used before. “You’re geniuses, right? Between you two and Tony, you have more PhDs than I can count, what is it worth if we can’t use it to help people?”

“It’s not that simple, Skye,” Fitz answered after a moment. “We don’t even understand how it really works, we don’t– I don’t think it’s even possible to reverse the beam,” he explained.

“And we probably would need to leave the device on in order to work on reversing the beam, and that would deflect the entire purpose of Doctor Stark’s journey,” Simmons added.

Skye deflated. “I just– I think she deserves better,” she said.

Simmons put her hand on Skye’s shoulder. “We can talk to Mr. Stark about it,” she suggested with a comforting smile.

**oAo**

Stark didn’t reappear and Skye left the lab in the evening without a word. She went straight to her room but found that she could not sit still for even a few seconds. What had seemed to be an exciting mission just a few days ago had soon turned into a moral dilemma she was not sure she could handle. Skye suddenly wished they had never found the device in the first place. They had handled many complex missions in the past but this was another level entirely. Skye could not help but think that they could have caused the destruction of an entire universe without even realizing it.

Skye stood up and made her way to the mess hall. She usually would have gone to the lab but she found she could not even think of going back there at the moment. All her efforts to forget about their issues were reduced to nothing though when she spotted a dark-haired woman sitting alone in the empty mess hall. Skye grabbed a cup of coffee and sat in front of Doctor Stark. The woman was looking down at the plate in front of her but Skye could tell she had simply been pushing her food around for a while. Skye also noticed that Doctor Stark was completely alone, which meant that Fury had probably revoked his previous order of not letting her wandering about unsupervised.

“Hi,” she said quietly when she realized that Natasha Stark had not even noticed her presence.

The woman looked up. She did not seem surprised to find Skye sitting in front of her and gave her a small smile. She seemed tensed and exhausted. The last few days had probably been hard on her.

"Hello, Skye, right?" Doctor Stark asked. Skye raised an eyebrow, judging by the Doc's behavior, Skye could have sworn the woman knew her in this alternate reality of hers.

Skye nodded. "I know SHIELD has not the best cooks, but it's not that bad," she said, pointing at the untouched food.

Doctor Stark gave her a tired smile. "What are you doing here at this hour, Skye?" she asked.

"Hey, it's not every day I get to meet someone from another reality," Skye said with false cheer. The truth was, Skye did not even know why she was sitting with this woman who was a complete stranger to her. Skye only knew that she wanted to help her find her way home. "I just– I wanted you to know that Fitz and Simmons will try everything to send you back, you don't have to worry."

"At least, some things don't change," Natasha Stark noted. "It seems your good heart is a universal constant," she said and Skye blushed.

"It must be strange for you," Skye said quietly. "Everything is the same, but not really."

"I knew it was a possibility, I hadn't realized how much would change between our two realities," she answered wearily.

"You mean you hadn't thought you'd be a Tony here, right?" Skye asked, a genuine smile finally making its way to her face.

"Among other things," she answered and Skye knew she was talking about her husband. "It's strange coming back to this place…" she mused. "But I shouldn't be telling you about this because even though we can't create a time paradox – in theory, it wouldn't be wise to share some of the things that happened in my universe."

"You don't want to influence us," Skye said. That was something else she had not thought about. "Do you want me to get you some coffee?" Skye asked after a moment of silence. At Natasha's enthusiastic nod, Skye though that some things truly were universal constant.

**oAo**

They finally had decided to work on a way to send Natasha Stark back and Skye could not help but glance worryingly at Tony through the day. He seemed on edge. He did not talk to them except to bark at Simmons. That was when Skye lost it.

"Hey! I know you're under a lot of pressure but it's not an excuse!" she exclaimed and Tony's eyes got comically wide. "She's just trying to help!"

The atmosphere in the lab got even tenser after her little outburst. For once Fitz and Simmons left the lab early and Natasha Stark was quick to follow them out. Tony, on the other hand did not look like he was planning on leaving anytime soon. Skye cracked her knuckles and settled back on her chair. She would just wait for Tony to leave the lab before getting back to her quarters.

After a few minutes, the screen started to blur.

**oAo**

When Steve walked into the lab, Tony just rolled his eyes. How many times did he need to say this: he did not need a babysitter! Then he noticed Steve glaring at the device. They had finally decided not to turn it off until they had found a way to send her back. Or until it became absolutely necessary to turn it off to avoid the destruction of her universe. They had come up with some pretty precise figures in that respect.

"We have no choice, you know," he said, turning to Steve.

Steve sighed. "I know, it's just that you're doing the exact opposite of what she came here for," he explained.

"We still have time," was Tony's only answer. He looked back to the screen. "I guess you made Fury drop the security thing, right?" he mumbled. "I noticed she doesn't have agents following her every move anymore."

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly. "It was the least I could do. If she's stuck here for good–"

"She's not," Tony countered.

"You don't know that," Steve raised his voice.

Tony shushed him and jerked his head toward Skye, who was fast asleep at her desk. He wondered how she could even sleep in here, with the light coming from the screen in front of her.

"You don't know that," Steve said again, lowering his voice. "You don't know how long it'll take to reverse the beam, you don't know if it's even possible. And every day that goes by, her world get closer to annihilation."

"What do you want me to do then?" Steve stayed quiet. "You think she should simply stay here, with us? with _you_?"

Steve ran a hand over his face. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't at least try to send her back, I'm just saying that we need to think it through. We're dealing with something that could cause the destruction of a whole universe, and you still want to study the damn thing!"

"Hey, do I need to remind you that I didn't want to come here in the first place!" Tony whispered loudly. "I'm doing what I can here! The way this device works, it's fairly complex, even for a genius."

Steve opened his mouth to respond but decided against it. Tony was surprised to see him turn around and leave the lab without even trying to argue back. He shook his head and went back to work.

For the rest of the night, the only sound that could be heard inside the lab was Skye’s steady breathing.


	11. Are you my wife in another universe? (from "Pick-up lines: Agents of SHIELD edition")

When Fitz, Simmons and Skye entered the mess hall early in the morning, Skye was surprised to find Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff sitting at a table at the far end of the room.

"Hey, let's go sit with them," Skye suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Fitz asked in disbelief.

"Come on," Skye said. She took a plate in one hand and Simmons' arm in the other. "Hi," she said once they had reached the table. She sat down and tugged Simmons' sleeve. The girl sat beside her. Fitz seemed to hesitate for a second but ended up sitting down anyway.

"So," Skye said after an awkward moment of silence. "How's things going?"

Agent Romanoff looked up from her cup of coffee, she seemed troubled. Skye could not help but give her a smile before digging into her food.

"Alternate realities, huh?" Barton said after a moment.

Skye slowly nodded her head.

"I still can't believe it," Simmons admitted. "It shouldn't be possible."

"You work for an agency that employs gods and super soldiers," Skye reminded her. "We've seen stranger things before. I still can’t believe they’re really a couple, thought,” Skye mused. At Romanoff skeptical look, she added, “I mean, come on, we all know the theories about parallel universes."

"It's not just a theory anymore, is it?" Fitz noted.

"My point is, there’s _always_ some similarities between them.”

“Yeah,” Barton cut in. “Stark is a jerk in every universe,” Skye gave him a look.

“She’s right, they may vary but alternate universes are basically identical,” Fitz noted. “Tony Stark is Iron Man,” he went on. “Or in this case Iron Woman. Captain Rogers still is Captain America. I’ll bet Fury also has an eyepatch in this other universe.” Barton snorted.

“Well, theories or not,” Agent Romanoff said. “I wouldn’t ask them about it if I were you.”

“For all the good it did you,” Barton pointed out.

“You mean–” Simmons whispered.

“Tasha’s been playing matchmaker,” Barton confirmed. “Those two are just too stupid to catch on.”

“I’m not playing matchmaker,” Romanoff countered. “I’m simply trying to keep them from getting all of us killed by acting like children.”

“She’s just a big softie on the inside,” Barton stage-whispered. Romanoff kicked him in the shin.

“Ow! You know, Banner did suggest anger management activities for the team.”

Romanoff ignored him.

**oAo**

Skye looked up at the ceiling when she said, "JARVIS, I need information on the… relationship between Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers."

"Skye!" Simmons exclaimed. She looked around even though she knew Stark had not yet come into the lab. It was still early in the morning after all. "You can't ask him that!"

"Stark said we could ask JARVIS anything when we're inside the lab," Skye reminded her.

"I think he wasn't quite talking about that," Simmons noted.

Skye shrugged and looked back at the ceiling. "JARVIS?" she asked.

"I am not sure to understand your query," the voice answered.

"I'd want to know more about their relationship. Do they argue often? Do they spend a lot of time together? How elevated Stark's heartbeat is when Cap comes into the room? I don't know! Anything!"

"I am not at liberty to give you this information," JARVIS answered and Skye groaned in frustration.

"They're infuriating," she said.

Skye was about to ask JARVIS more questions when the door of the lab opened. She closed her mouth as soon as she saw Stark and Natasha Stark stepped into the lab. Skye immediately looked down, trying to look absorbed by the charts on her tablet.

"Mr. Stark, Doctor," Simmons greeted with way too much enthusiasm as Fitz exclaimed, "Mr. Stark! Doctor Stark-Rogers!"

Skye caught Natasha's eyes and the Doctor smirked as though she knew exactly what Skye had been doing. Skye blamed it entirely on Fitz and Simmons; she had to accept the fact that her friends were simply incapable of lying.

"Doctor," Simmons said as the two Starks made their way to the coffee maker. "We were wondering– That is– You never told us how you managed to come here in the first place."

Natasha Stark turned to Simmons and seemed to ponder the question. "I told you about the wormhole that appeared in my universe, right?" She waited for Fitz and Simmons to nod before she went on. "After Reed and I understood what it really was, I put on the suit and just kind of… went ahead inside the wormhole."

Skye gaped at her as Fitz and Simmons exclaimed, "Are you crazy?" and "What do you _mean_?" Skye noticed Stark had blanched at Natasha's words. He did not say a word and leaned over one of the screens.

Fitz seemed to calm down enough to think again and said, "So after we manage to reverse the beam, do you think you could simply go back the way you have come?"

"I'll need to fix my suit first; the trip damaged some parts of the armor but yes, if the beam is reversed I don't see why it wouldn't work."

Skye was baffled to see how calm Natasha Stark looked about the whole thing. Jumping inside a wormhole? No problem! Tony on the other hand… Skye noticed his knuckles were turning white as he gripped the edge of the table.

"We need to reverse the beam first, though," he finally said. "Fitz and Simmons can continue working on that, and I'll help you with the suit."

Working with not one but two Starks geniuses was apparently very distracting to Fitz and Simmons. Skye knew her friends were supposed to work on some highly complex calculation but they both seemed to find watching Stark and Doctor Stark working much more interesting. And who could blame them, really?

Tony and Natasha had put Natasha's suit on the table, and were now working on fixing it. Skye had not noticed it when Natasha had first appeared in the lab but part of her suit had been ripped off but the force inside the wormhole.

"We'll need to reinforce the armor if you want to make it back," Stark noted. "Don't you people know about titanium in your universe?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Of course we do, why do you think the suit made it in one piece in the first place? Anyway, my prototype made out of vibranium wasn't ready and–"

"Wait, wait, wait, you're saying that you have a suit made out of vibranium?" Stark exclaimed.

"It's only a prototype," Doctor Stark said. "I found out that some of its proprieties were ideal for the suit."

"Like…"

"Aerodynamic properties," they both said at the same time.

"Steve's shield gave me the idea," Natasha explained. "Pass me the–"

Stark gave her the soldering iron. "Did Steve let you study the shield?" Doctor Stark nodded. "Not fair, he doesn't even let me near the damn thing. Do you need the–" he said, holding out a wrench.

"Yeah," Natasha took the tool. "You should ask him nicely, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to show you his shield."

Stark threw some scrap metal over his shoulder. "We need to improve your navigation system."

"Communication and navigation systems are jammed inside the wormhole anyway," Natasha stated.

"And that's precisely why we need to improve them too," Stark replied.

Watching them work in perfect synch, Skye thought that, maybe, they had a chance of saving Natasha's universe after all.

**oAo**

"Do we need to call Reed Richards?" Hill asked after a moment of silence, drumming her fingers on the armrest. "He's the expert on alternate realities, after all."

Fury shook his head. "No one could deal with this shit anyway," he said in a tone of finality.

**oAo**

Steve went to the lab in the evening in the hope of convincing Tony to take a break. The good news was that Tony was not in the lab, which probably meant that he was taking some rest for once in his life. Natasha Stark, on the other hand, was still leaning over the computer screen in the empty room. She turned to him when she heard the doors open.

"Steve!" she exclaimed and she smiled at him. Then she seemed to realize where she was and her smile dropped. She cooled her features and it felt like someone had punched him in the guts.

"You can't live off coffee alone, you know," he said, pointing at the cup in front of her.

She simply shrugged. "I'm dealing with a highly complex calculation and any mistake on my part could lead to the annihilation of both our universes," she answered. "I need to stay awake."

Steve blinked. "All the more reasons for you to take a break," he finally said. "Let me take you to the mess hall. Ma'am. I mean– Doctor Stark, I–

"Just… Call me Natasha, alright?" she told him with a sad smile. Steve nodded and the two of them made their way to the mess.

They both filled their tray without a word and Natasha yawned loudly; both her hands were occupied with the tray. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry," she said and took a sit.

"Don't worry about it; you've been working all day on that calculation after all."

"It's just that I– I promised Steve that I would come back, and I don't want my last words to him to be a lie." She stuck her fork into her food with more force than necessary.

"How long have you two been married?" Steve could not help but ask.

Natasha smiled at him. "Two years," she answered. "But we were together long before that."

Steve had thought he was ready to talk about this with her. He had wondered about their life together of course, how could he not? But now that he was talking to this version of Tony from another universe who just so happened to be married to him, he found that her sorrow was just too much for him to handle.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "I'm sure Tony will find a way to send you back."

Natasha smiled at him gratefully. "So…" she started in a more cheerful tone. "Did you two guys ever… well, you know," she said, wagging her eyebrows.

Steve eyes went wide and he choked on his food. He had not been expecting that kind of question. "What? No!" he exclaimed. He cleared his throat. "I mean, no," he said calmly.

Natasha grin only got bigger. "Too bad," she said. "You don't know what you're missing," she added mischievously.

"Isn't a bit narcissistic?" Steve asked. "He's basically you." Natasha shrugged and set her gaze on him. Steve began to squirm. "He– He doesn't see me that way," he said after a moment.

"Oh, I assure you he does," Natasha countered.

"It doesn't mean anything," Steve insisted, lowering his gaze.

"Steve," she said and she put her hand over his on the table. Steve could feel her ring against his skin. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, all I want is for you to be happy, no matter which universe you live in. I don't know how it's possible, but I make my Steve happy." She squeezed his hand until Steve looked up. "Does he make you happy?"

"He's incredibly frustrating at times," Steve said with a fond smile. "But he does. Joining the Avengers, and meeting Tony, it gave me a purpose again and now I can't imagine my life without him; even though we fight very often." Natasha chuckled at that and Steve smiled fondly. "He's a good man. I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but his heart is in the right place." He took a deep breath. "I can't believe what I told him when we met, I was so wrong about him. I hope he knows it."

Natasha mournfully shook her head. "The problem with us Starks, is that we wouldn't notice a good thing even if it bit us in the ass." Her colorful language made Steve chuckle. "He won't assume anything when it comes to you. Maybe you should just tell him." Steve gave her a skeptical look. "Hey, do you know how many times Steve asked me to marry him? At least five," she exclaimed, grinning. "You know I– I mean _he_ didn't have the best role models growing up, he may not know how much it affects him right now, but it really did a number on him. It's hard letting people in, especially for people like us. I know it's not fair to you, but you can't expect him to make the first move."


	12. Trust, but verify

“I'm seriously thinking about resigning you know. They don't have this kind of problem in the private sector.”

“You'd never work for the private sector.”

**oAo**

“We’ll have to close the bridge as soon as you get back,” Stark said, walking around the lab while Doctor Stark was double-checking his calculation. “Your universe can’t really afford a sudden flow of exotic particles pouring in when it’s already unstable.”

Natasha hummed and scratched out something on the paper she was reading before writing something down.

“Hey,” Stark exclaimed. “What are you doing to my equation?” he asked in disbelief.

“I’m improving it,” Natasha answered.

Skye snorted at Stark’s offended look. She turned back to her computer as Tony and Natasha carried on with their usual bickering. It was entertaining to be working with the two of them. They were so much alike but they thought they were poles apart, of course. Well, Tony, for one, was basically lying to himself, probably because he did not want to think about what it would mean for him and for his relationship with a _certain someone_. And Natasha had probably not realized that she was as much of a jerk as Tony from time to time.

Fitz and Simmons were working on the ring, trying to add some features to the device in order to reverse the beam. Fitz had been struggling all morning with the equipment provided by S.H.I.E.L.D., he suddenly yelped as the soldering iron in his hand started to buzz.

Natasha Stark rolled her eyes again, something she had done all morning every time S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment failed them. Geniuses were kind of picky. Skye vaguely wondered how many PhDs they all had.

“ _God_ ,” Doctor Stark exclaimed when Fitz burnt his fingers with the defective soldering iron. “Is this Hammer tech?”

“Who is this Hammer anyway?” Skye asked. The guy seemed to be Natasha’s benchmark for shitty equipment.

“He’s a misogynist and a prick,” Natasha answered forcefully. Tony nodded in agreement. “Did you talk to Fury?” Natasha suddenly asked Tony.

Stark snorted. “Yeah, he wanted to know if we could find a way to use the device without destroying a whole universe in the process.”

“What did you tell him?” she asked as she gave him back his equation.

“I told him it was impossible. He wasn’t happy, this thing can provide an unlimited amount of power and I’m pretty sure Fury’s not planning to use it to end hunger in the world,” he noted. Natasha nodded with a smirk.

There was a sudden rumble and sparks started to fly around Fitz. He took a few steps back as Natasha and Tony rushed to the device.

“Did you see the–” Natasha said.

“Yes, yes,” Tony answered impatiently. “We need to–“

“I know, I know.”

The two of them worked in synch, trying to stop whatever was happening here. Skye was more worried about Fitz at the moment, she looked down and noticed the small burns on his hands.

“We need to take you to the infirmary,” she said.

**oAo**

In the infirmary, Skye excused herself and left the room to answer Coulson’s call while Stark and Simmons were busy fussing over Fitz. Apparently, Hill had told him all about their meeting with Natasha Stark and Coulson chastised her for not telling him what was going on herself. She felt bad for him when she told him about what happened in the lab just a few minutes ago. Coulson was still ranting when Skye saw Cap walking down the corridor toward the infirmary.

“Got to go, bye” she exclaimed. She still could hear Coulson's worried tone as she hung up. She turned to Cap. “Hi,” she greeted brightly. Cap narrowed his eyes at her.

She smiled sweetly at him and they entered the infirmary together. Stark and FitzSimmons turned to them, they seemed surprised to see Cap.

“Where’s Doctor Stark-Rogers?” Fitz asked and Cap cleared his throat awkwardly.

“She went to talk to Fury,” Cap answered. “She looked pissed,” he added and Skye noticed a fond smile on his face.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Stark asked in a harsh tone and Cap looked baffled.

“Well, I saw Natasha on her way to Fury’s office and she told me what happened so I thought I’d stop by to see how you were all doing.”

Skye noticed Stark scowling and she raised an eyebrow at Cap. When did he start calling her _Natasha_?

**oAo**

“She really did a number on you,” Hill underlined a few hours later.

“What do you mean, Hill?” Fury mumbled.

“It’s not our fault her universe is in danger. We didn’t make this device.”

“But we still want to use it,” he countered.

“Sir, I know you think the device is not safe here and that you don’t fully trust S.H.I.E.L.D. at the moment, and I know you have your reasons. But that’s why you called in the Avengers, to ensure the safety of this thing so we could use it. Imagine what we could do if we didn’t have to worry about power source. We can’t pass up something like this,” she said reasonably.

“I’m not so sure about that.”


	13. The truth is out there, somewhere

Agent Romanoff had been at it for days. Ever since they came back from their retrieve mission, the red-haired agent had been interrogating the men they had fought at the warehouse, one at a time. Behind the one-way mirror, Skye watched, fascinated, Agent Romanoff at work. Skye had to constantly remind herself that this woman was Black Widow, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, so she would not be fooled by her act. Natasha had a way with words, to say the least. She knew exactly what to say or not to say in order to get all the answers she needed. She could act as the trained and deathly S.H.I.E.L.D agent Skye knew she was or suddenly become a frail and naïve creature that could charm her way to the answers she needed.

As good as she was, Agent Romanoff had not been able to get any information from them. Every time she came out of the room, she seemed even more frustrated than before. She kept telling Fury that she would make them talk in the end. Agent Barton had suggesting shooting them in various places until they talk but Captain America had given him a very disappointed look and that seemed to have made Clint shut up.

Skye yawned. It was so late at night; they have been at it for hours.

“Maybe she needs to throw them off the top of the building and get Falcon to catch them,” Natasha Stark said matter-of-factly. “That should make them talk.”

“Falcon?” Cap asked quietly, tearing his eyes away from the one-way mirror.

“Guess you haven’t met him yet,” Natasha shrugged. “He’s an Avenger too, he lives at the Mansion with us,” she said without looking at them.

Tony glanced at her, looking surprised, but Natasha kept quiet.

“What were you planning?”

Skye jumped when she heard Agent Romanoff shooting and the chair falling. She took a step back. As he lied on the ground, tied up to his chair, the man smiled at Romanoff. He looked utterly crazy to Skye.

“It’s already too late,” he said calmly.

Romanoff turned around and looked straight at Cap. That was particularly creepy, as there was no way she could have been able to see them behind the glass. Romanoff shook her head and Skye had no time to wonder what that meant when she heard an explosion not far down the corridor.

They all rushed outside the room behind Cap, who already had his shield in hand. Barton raised his bow as Romanoff came out of the interrogation room.

“They’re here for the device,” she said in a rush.

“How come they entered the building?” Barton yelled over the rumble. “It’s supposed to be guarded!”

“They must have had someone inside,” Cap guessed, looking grim. “ _Dammit_.”

Skye gave him a surprised look. Then she remembered that now was clearly not the time to dwell on the fact that Captain America had just sworn.

His hand went to his earpiece. “Rumlow? Rumlow!” There was no answer. “Stark,” he said. “Go get you suit, and then meet us at the lab. If it’s the device they want, they’re probably heading towards it right now. We need to get there before they do.”

“You got it, Cap,” he said before rushing down the corridor towards the staff quarters.

Natasha Stark was ready to hurry after him when Cap stopped her, grabbing her arm. “I need my suit,” she said and he let her go without a word. She ran after Tony.

“Barton, go with them, make sure they’re safe,” Cap said and Barton nodded solemnly before rushing after the two Starks. “And find me Rumlow!” Cap called after him. “Nat, go find Fury and tell him what’s happening. We’ll need back up if we want to stop them. You three,” he said to FitzSimmons and Skye. “Go with her.” Then he glanced at Romanoff. “Keep them safe,” he said and Romanoff nodded.

“Don’t do anything too stupid,” she told him.

“Me?” he asked with a smile, raising his shield.

Romanoff watched him go, shaking her head. “Alright, let’s go find Fury.”

Skye, Fitz and Simmons rushed after her. They ran down several corridors, some agents were gathering here and there but Romanoff did not stop. She glanced at the three of them from time to time to make sure they were still following her. Skye heard another explosion and then gunshots. She took Simmons’ hand as they ran. No way they would get separated now.

Romanoff stopped at the stairwell door. Gun in hand, she opened the door with a violent kick and pointed her gun. The stairwell was empty. She jerked her head and the three younger agents ran up the stairs as Romanoff glanced at the corridor before quietly closing the door behind them.

They kept running.

Suddenly, they came face to face with an agent in a S.H.I.E.L.D uniform that was running down the stairs. Fitz stopped, trying to catch his breath.

“Oh, thank god–” he started to say. Then the guy pointed a gun at them.

Romanoff kicked the gun out of the man’s hand. She grabbed the banister, jumped and swung her feet. She hit the man right in the face and he fell backward, rolling down the stairs.

“Don’t trust anyone,” she told them sharply. “We don’t know how many of them are here.”

They finally reached Fury’s office. In the corridor, Skye saw the Director gathering a few agents, barking orders.

“Romanoff!” he exclaimed when he saw them running to him. “What happened down there? I heard an explosion and next thing I know, comms are down and we’re under attack?”

“I guess Pushkin was tired to wait around and he decided to send his team to take back the device,” Romanoff explained, gun still in hand, looking around. “There’s probably a mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D.,” she said.

“Of course there is, Romanoff,” Fury barked. “Now get your ass down to the lab, that’s an order,” he said.

“Yes, Sir,” Romanoff answered. And was that a _smile_ on her lips?

Romanoff turned to Fitz, Simmons and Skye. “Let’s go.”

**oAo**

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked when he saw her behind him.

“Same thing as you, Stark,” she answered and he rolled his eyes at her.

“I’m surprised Steve let you out of his sight,” Tony snarled just as Barton joined them.

The agent huffed a laugh. “Now’s maybe not the time, Stark,” he said as they hurried towards Tony’s room.

He grabbed the suitcase and the suit came together. He closed the helmet and was relieved to see that his own comms system was still working.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said and they rushed to Natasha’s room next. They had repaired and improved the suit and Tony hoped that it would be enough.

They shared a look and flew towards the lab. “Hey!” Barton exclaimed, exasperated. But they ignored him.

“What are we going to do?” Natasha asked through the suit comms.

“Steve’s probably already in the lab,” Tony said. “And we’re going to save his sorry ass.”

Natasha snorted. “I meant, what are we going to do to stop them?”

“No idea,” he said after a few second of silence. “Hey! Watch out!” he yelled as she flew straight through a wall. “Are you crazy? Steve will have my head if I let anything happen to you!”

Natasha laughed. “Please, I’ve done so _so_ much worse,” she said. “I risk my life, he gets mad at me, he risks his life, I get mad at him, that’s marriage for you.”

“How do you even make this _work_?” Stark asked in disbelief.

“Let’s just say, when you fight Doom Bots on a regular basis, it kind of puts thing into perspective,” she answered.

“Doomwhat?” Tony asked.

“Don’t ask,” she said and he knew she was rolling her eyes at him. “It’s not too late for you, you know.”

“I’ll have to agree with Barton for once, is now really the time for this?” he cried out.

“I’m just saying, you shouldn’t wait until it’s too late. Well,” she added as an after-thought. “He’d probably wait for you forever, but you don’t want to take the risk to see him be snatched away from you, believe me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony gritted his teeth.

“Of course you do,” she said, exasperated. “You’re me, I’m you, I know you know what I’m talking about, Stark.”

This whole conversation should have been confusing but it really wasn’t, Stark mused.

At last, the lab came into view. Tony’s heart jumped when he saw Cap in front of the doors, trying to fight off several men with his shield alone. He swore and raised his hand but the blast that knocked at least two of the men did not come from him. Natasha made a perfect landing just as Romanoff and the kids came into view. Romanoff pushed the kids out of the way when the men turned their gun to them and ducked. She slid on the floor, shot at one of the men and electrocuted the other one using her Widow’s Bite. She stood up and turned to Cap.

“Rogers,” she greeted.

“Did you find Fury?” he asked as he punched one of the men in the face.

“He’s sending back-up, we’ll have to hold them back until they get here.”

They heard another explosion and Barton came out through a mix of dust and concrete. “I’ll need more of those exploding arrows, Stark,” he said, turning around to kick a man in the face using his bow. “Hey!” he cried out as one of their opponents climbed though the shattered glass of the lab. “Watch out!”

“I got this,” Iron Woman said and she flew straight to the guy.

Tony lifted his hand but Baron caught his arm. “Hey, Mrs. Rogers told you she got this,” he said with a smirk and Tony glared at him. Then he remembered that he had his faceplate on and that Barton could not see him glare. He turned to Cap.

“We can’t let them use the device,” Cap told him.

In that moment, Tony knew they were exactly on the same page. As hard as things could get between them at times, they were still a team and they had each other’s back.

“I’ll cover you. Go!” Cap said. “Avengers!” he called, raising his shield. Barton and Romanoff stood beside him as Tony flew to the lab. Natasha was trying to keep the two men away from the device.

“We need to turn it off!” Tony shouted through his comms.

“No way!” Natasha barked. She knocked the two guys out cold with her repulsors. “We can contain them!” She turned her repulsors toward Tony.

“Natasha! Listen to me! I promise you we’ll send you back, okay? But for now we need to turn this thing off!”

He waited for her to nod, his right gauntlet opened and he pressed a few keys on the controller. The light became suddenly brighter before the device shut down. Tony really hoped they would be able to turn it on again.

They heard Barton swear and the characteristic bang of Cap’s shield against someone’s head. When Tony glanced up, he saw Romanoff swung the shield to stop a bullet.

When S.H.I.E.L.D response team came running, the fight was over. Cap order the agents to take their assailants into custody and Barton watched them go with a smug look on his face. Tony opened up his faceplate. He saw Skye glance at them from her hiding spot behind a wall and he waved. She girl smiled and dragged her two friends over.

He saw the moment she looked inside the lab and noticed the device. She glared. “You turned it off?” she exclaimed.

“Relax, kid,” Tony told her. “We would have turned it off anyway before reversing the beam,” he explained.

“You sure?” she asked and he nodded.

He looked around them, Fury was walking straight to them and he looked pissed. “We might need to send her back sooner rather than later,” he frowned.

From the corner of his eyes he saw Natasha Stark grabbing Fury’s arm. They talked quietly until Fury nodded curtly. Natasha smiled gratefully at the Director. Then she turned around and caught Tony’s eyes and he nodded. They made there way back inside the lab.

**oAo**

“We’ll overpower it as soon as you get back,” Tony told her. He glanced nervously at the ring in the lab and at Natasha in her iron suit. “Are you sure it won’t disintegrate you?” he asked her.

“You helped with the calculations,” she said. “You know it won’t.”

“If we didn’t make any mistake,” Stark underlined.

“Stark!” Cap exclaimed. He glared at him and turned to Natasha. “Are you sure it’s safe?” he asked quietly.

Natasha nodded. “I’ll be fine. I trust him,” she said, glancing at Tony. Then she grabbed Cap’s uniform – even with the suit on, there was still a significant height difference – drew him close to her and kissed him like she probably had done a thousand times before in her own universe. Fitz and Simmons averted their eyes, Barton cleared his throat awkwardly and Skye noticed with a smirk that Tony was both glaring and trying not to look at them at the same time.

Natasha took a step back and glanced at the room at large. “Well, it has been an adventure,” she said cheerfully and climbed inside the ring.

She nodded to Fitz who was standing near the control panel. He pushed the button. Green light appeared inside the ring, surrounding Natasha for a second before she disappeared. Stark and FitzSimmons kept their eyes on the figures going up on the screen.

“Now,” Stark said when the appropriate figures were reached.

Fitz pressed a few keys and the light inside the ring grew brighter and brighter, the device started to buzz and Skye shielded her eyes from the light, worrying that the device might just blow up in their faces. There was a great rumble and the ring started crackling, the noise was getting louder and louder until the device turned off. Then there was just silence.

Skye looked at the device, its steel frame was badly burned, and it looked like it was beyond repair. They had done it. They had saved Natasha’s universe. Skye smiled, she turned to Simmons and–

Cap groaned in pain. His legs gave out and Agent Barton rushed to him. He grabbed one of Cap’s arms while Tony grabbed the other. Some blood was dripping from his uniform and Stark swore. Cap let his head rest against Tony’s as his two friends dragged him to the infirmary, followed by Agent Romanoff and Fitz.

Skye stayed in the lab, staring at the device. When she turned around, she saw Simmons sitting on one of the lab stools. Skye had not even noticed that her friend was still in the room, she tried to smile. She did not realize she was crying until Simmons put her arms around her and drew her in a hug. Skye rested her head against Simmons’ shoulder and put her arms around her waist.

“So, do you believe in parallel universes yet?” Skye mumbled.

Simmons laughed quietly, and Skye could feel her breath against her cheek. “I have all the proof I need,” she answered.

“I’m glad we managed to send her back,” Skye said, her voice muffled by Simmons’ shirt. She felt Simmons nod. “Looks like we saved the world,” she added after a moment of silence. “Again.”

“We never would have send her back if it hadn’t been for you,” Simmons said. Her hand was now resting on Skye’s hair.

“You know,” Skye started. “It almost made me believe in fate.”

“I know what you mean,” Simmons said and Skye smirked.

“Why, Doctor Simmons, look at you,” she teased.

“Oh , hush,” Simmons laughed. “What I mean is that we have tangible proof that mere chance is not the only thing at work in our lives. When you think about it, what were the odds that both Tony Stark and Natasha Stark would become super heroes? Or that Steve Rogers would become Captain America?”

“Or that they would be made for each other no matter the universe,” Skye cut in and Simmons chuckled.

“Exactly,” she said.

“Hey,” Skye mumbled. “Do you think we’re friends in this other universe?” she asked.

“I’m sure of it.”

“Good. I don’t know what I’d do without you– or Coulson, or the team. I know I don’t say it enough, but I’m glad you’ve found me.”

“I’m glad we’ve found you too,” Simmons answered. “Skye–”

Skye looked up and found that Simmons was closer than she had thought. The girl’s eyes were wide and she seemed frozen mid-sentence. Skye raised an eyebrow. Then, after a moment of hesitation, Simmons got even closer and kissed her. It was sweet and a bit shy and so _Simmons_ that Skye thought her heart was going to burst. She smiles into the kiss.


	14. Journey's end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the last chapter, folks. Thank you all for your feedbacks, kudos/comments/bookmark. I can’t believe I’ve started working on this story nearly one year ago and now it’s done and published. I had so much fun writing this, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Tony was sitting by himself outside the infirmary. Fury had called in Romanoff, Barton and Fitz and they were now in his office to report on their situation. Fury had call Tony in as well but Tony had politely declined. And then a nurse had kicked him out of the infirmary.

While he was waiting, Tony let his mind wander. He thought about Natasha; he hoped she had made it home okay. She probably was with her Steve right now, getting the earful of her life for risking her life once more. Tony chuckled.

Tony would be lying if he said that meeting Natasha had not changed the way he saw his and Steve’s relationship. He had thought that his crush for Captain America and for Steve would simply go away; Tony had been with Pepper at the time and he would never had done or said anything that could hurt her. Then they had broken up and his feelings for Steve had came back full force. He had been so sure that Steve deserved so much more than Tony Stark. He still had so much to make up for; surely he did not deserved someone like Steve.

And then Natasha Stark had arrived from another reality and had changed everything. Iron Woman and Captain America were happily married in her reality. When she talked about their life together, Natasha seemed content, happy even, and also sad to be stranded in another reality. And if his own feelings for Steve were anything to go by, she really loved him with all her heart. All of this made Tony wonder about what a relationship between them would be like. Fury would probably have an aneurism before having Tony killed, Hill would be delighted to watch him die, and the team– how would this affect the team if the two leaders of the Avengers suddenly started dating? But he still needed to know how Steve felt about this– about _him_.

Tony looked up when he heard footsteps; Skye and Simmons were walking down the corridor. Simmons whispered something in Skye’s ear, touched her shoulder and went inside the infirmary. Skye sat down beside him and put the second cup of coffee she was holding on the table next to him.

“I thought you might need this,” she said and he nodded gratefully.

“Not your girlfriend, huh?” he asked after a while.

Skye laughed, delighted. “To be fair, she wasn’t.”

Tony hummed and gulped down his coffee.

“They didn’t let you in?” Skye asked, glancing at the door of the infirmary. Tony shook his head. “Simmons went to see how he’s doing, I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

Tony nodded quietly. He needed to see for himself that Steve was safe and sound.

After a while, Romanoff, Barton and Fitz joined their silent vigil. The Triskelion was quiet at this time of night. Barton was sitting on the armrest, his feet on the chair and his back to the wall, his eyes were closed and Tony wondered how come he had not fallen over yet. Romanoff was sitting very still; Tony noticed she looked tense.

They all turned around when they heard the door. Simmons came out of the infirmary and smiled at them. “You can go in now.”

They did not need to be told twice. Romanoff jumped on her feet and rushed inside, Barton and the kids were quick to follow her. Tony stopped in front of the door. He took a deep breath and followed them to Cap’s bed.

“I thought I told you not to do anything stupid,” Romanoff said, a hand on Cap’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” Cap said but Tony knew well enough that he was not sorry one bit. He rolled his eyes.

Steve looked well, he was not as pale anymore and his injury was probably healing nicely thanks to the serum. It did not mean that Tony was not worried sick every time Steve got himself hurt, though.

Barton was telling Cap how worried they all had been, Fitz was babbling and Simmons was checking Cap’s vitals from time to time. Tony let the words wash over him. All he needed was to see Steve alive and well.

“You did really well out there,” Steve told the kids. Simmons blushed furiously at the praise. “You can tell your leader he has a good team,” he told Skye and the girl blinked. They shared a look and– okay, Tony would definitely have to ask him about this later.

When Steve glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, Tony realized that he had not said a word since he had come inside. He walked to Steve’s bed.

"I'd tell you to be more careful next time but you never listen, do you?" he asked with a faint smile.

Tony saw Romanoff jerk her head.

"I need to go back to the lab," Fitz stammered.

"I have some packing to do," Simmons added with a fake smile.

Skye rolled her eyes at her and put both hands on Simmons' shoulder before leading her out of the room. "There's this…thing I need to do," she said.

Tony shook his head, smiling at her antics. Then he saw Barton wink at him. The room was cleared in two seconds flat. Tony looked at Steve and turned serious again. He cleared his throat awkwardly; Romanoff and the team were all less subtle than they thought they were.

“A whole universe was at risk, it was bigger than any of us,” Steve said calmly.

“It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘saving the world’,” Tony noted.

“Yeah, I guess it does,” Steve said quietly. “Thanks for sending her back, I know it can’t have been easy for you.”

“I had help,” Tony shrugged.

“About Natasha…”

“Steve, look…” they said at the same time. Cap smiled at him and gestured for Tony to go first. Tony was not even sure to know what he had wanted to say exactly. They shared a look.

“I just– I felt like you trusted her more than you trust me,” he said finally.

“There’s no one I trust more than you,” Steve answered. “I’m sorry I made you think otherwise.” Tony nodded and averted his eyes. “Hey, are you alright?” Steve asked. “I know everybody expected you to handle the situation but nobody stopped even once to consider how you might feel about it. I mean…”

“You’re talking about Natasha,” Tony guessed and Steve nodded.

“I have to say it was kind of freaky seeing her– seeing me like this. It got me thinking about things I didn’t want to think about. And, well, I don’t understand why everybody was so quick to like her so much.”

Steve winced. “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable,” he said and Tony shrugged.

“You didn’t,” Tony said. “She’s pretty fascinating.”

“Yeah, she is,” Steve smiled. “Tony– I wish I could say that this situation didn’t affect me but I can’t.”

“Well, you don’t meet your wife from an alternate reality everyday,” Tony croaked.

“And it got me thinking,” Steve said in a rush. “About what I want for myself, about things I thought I could never have and meeting Natasha made me realize that maybe I could have all this. The way she talked about their team, and her Steve– I want all of this, Tony. And I want you, too,” he said looking straight into Tony’s eyes. “She asked me if you make me happy and you do,” he said forcefully. “You give me purpose,” he smiled. “You know, I used to wonder why I woke up here, and now I know. Here and now, with you, with the team, it’s where I belong.”

“I thought I didn’t deserve you,” Tony said suddenly and Steve froze. “Come on, Steve. You know well enough how they used to call me. The merchant of death,” he sighed. “I have so much crap I have to make up for. Sometimes I wonder how you can even bear to be in the same room as me.”

“You’ve done so much good and I’m sure it’s not to write off some debt you think you have. You’re a good man, Tony.” Tony snorted. “I’m serious,” Steve said, taking his arm. “And I’m going to keep telling you this until you start believing it. There wouldn’t even be a team if it weren’t for you. You gave us a home, you even make tech for us. I know Barton loves the arrow you made him, and Nat has never looked so deadly. All this things you do for our team, it’s because you want to keep us safe.”

“We have a pretty good team,” Tony said.

“Yeah, we do,” Steve smiled at him.

Tony sighed and ran a hand in his hair. “I’m not good at this,” Tony said.

“Neither am I,” Steve underlined. “It took me meeting my wife from another reality to get this far,” he noted. “If you’re worried about how this is going to affect the team–”

Tony shook his head. “Apparently when you fight Doom Bots on a regular basis, it kind of puts things into perspective,” Tony answered. He leaned over Steve, resting his hand on the bed.

“Doomwhat?” Steve asked, confused.

“No idea,” Tony said quietly.

Steve put his hand on Tony’s neck, drawing him closer. Tony lost his balance and practically fell on top of Steve. The super soldier did not even wince; he simply put his arm around Tony’s waist.

They both knew that it would not be easy, they most likely would keep arguing as they always did but they knew they could overcome anything that was thrown their way as long as they were together.

 

 

_We'll return in a moment_

 

 

The blinds in Fury’s office had been closed. The file he had been reading was lying on his desk in front of him. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D was reflecting on the events of the last few days, the device they had studied could have caused the annihilation of several universes and he wondered if the people behind the orders at S.H.I.E.L.D suspected it could be a possibility. The destruction of the device had pissed them off to say the least and Fury was not sure he really understood why.

Fury let out a sigh and closed the file briskly.

**CLASSIFIED: LEMURIAN STAR**


End file.
